Posted on: September 4th, 2013 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
Crime prevention, social capital, neighbourhood cohesion… all the stuff of Jane Jacobs and Mr. Rogers! In this latest episode of “By The Numbers” Anthony Piscitelli pays homage to a certain friendly neighbour in order to give you the highlights of a recent report from the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council.
What do you think…. does your neighbourhood have a high level of social capital? Or do you live in a neighbourhood that has a high fear of crime? What does your neighbourhood do to build community and social capital?
Posted on: October 26th, 2012 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
How to understand the complex nature and impact of psychological trauma in our community? Important steps are being taken in this direction by KidsLink, a Waterloo Region based organization supporting the emotional and mental health of children and youth in our community.
We recently hosted Laurie Robinson in a webinar to explore the prevalence and science of trauma and how our community can move toward a trauma-informed system of care. Participants in the webinar came from many different sectors representing children & youth mental health, addictions, health care and more.
But why would the Crime Prevention Council be interested in issues of trauma? Trauma (adverse childhood experiences, or adult in some cases) is often the root of many psychological, physical, behavioural and health conditions – and WRCPC is all about getting to the root causes or conditions. For example, did you know….
75% – 93% of youth entering the criminal justice system have experienced some form of trauma
Among boys who experienced a traumatic incident under the age of 12, 50% – 79% became involved in serious juvenile delinquency
Incarcerated women are more likely to report a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse (Justice Policy Institute, 2010).
Prevention tell us: “it’s easier to build strong children than to mend broken adults.”
I share Laurie Robinson’s presentation here to give you a starting point for finding out what trauma is and the impact it has on our community.
How do you see trauma affecting people you work with, serve, represent? What do you see as the impact within our community? How might a trauma informed system of care improve the lives of the people that you works with. How might it improve the health of us all? How could this approach have an effect on prevention, early intervention, effective treatment and intervention, the corrections & court system, rehabilitation…..? Let you mind consider the possibilities!
Post your questions or comments here and Laurie will do her best to answer them all.
Do politicians and a debate about policy and policy changes impact public opinion? Anthony Piscitelli asked this question at the end of the previous episode and now he reveals his answer!
Indeed, policy changes made at the political level appear to have some influence on public opinion and attitudes toward crime and the criminal justice system. Politicians have a role in leading public opinion but they also have a role in following it. When politicians float a ‘trial balloon’ policy, it is often in an attempt to test the waters of public opinion of a particular issue. Remember Bill C-30? The ‘cyber surveillance’ bill was tabled early in 2012 but was quickly pulled off the table due to a huge public outcry and several social media campaigns. It has yet to reappear….
The main message of these ‘By the Numbers’ videos is still this: the relationship between public opinion, policy and political decision makers is complex – more than complicated! Know that your opinion matters, listen carefully about issues that matter to you… and learn to read between the lines – or, the numbers.
Thanks for watching! Do you have any ‘by the numbers’ worthy topics you are curious about? If you have something you would like to see covered in an episode of ‘By the Numbers’, leave a comment below or contact us info [at] smartoncrime.ca.
A huge thank you to the staff & team at Gibson Sound & Vision, Waterloo for accommodating us at their store to record this video!
Everyone wants to know… how do political leaders make their decisions about crime policy anyway? Are they influenced by public opinion polls? Do politicians influence public attitudes?
In the first episode of this By The Numbers series, Anthony Piscitelli guided us through 40 years of historical data on public attitudes toward the criminal justice system. In general, the evidence showed some interesting trends:
more people are gravitating towards crime prevention rather than law enforcement as a means for preventing crime,
more people thinking that crime is falling,
less support for harsher sentences,
more support for the justice system
dramatic drops in support for capital punishment
But the trends are not the whole picture. In this episode, Anthony brings up some other factors that influence public opinions and the possible relationship between public attitudes and how crime policy is formed. It’s complicated… to say the least!!
So, what do you think? Is this overly complicated? Is there a connection between public attitudes and crime policy? Does a debate about crime policy influence pubic opinions? Looking forward to hearing what you have to say!
You probably already know this about the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, but it bears repeating…. When a wicked question1 comes our way, we’re not satisfied until we get an answer, even if it means tons of research and pounds of data!
Our wicked question began to take shape with the introduction of the Safe Streets and Communities Act in Canada (Bill C-10). This omnibus crime legislation was ushered in with a ‘tough on crime’ message that seemed to resonate with some of the voting public and certainly elicited an emotional reaction. True to our investigative nature here at the WRCPC, it got us thinking… and a wicked question was born. We wanted to know, “Does the tough on crime message work?” And if so, for what purpose? We were also curious to know, “Is there another message that captures prevention, addressing root cause issues and being ‘smart on crime that would resonate as much as tough on crime”?
We know… these are massive questions and we can only begin to scratch the surface of this topic! Here’s our attempt. We started with 40 years of public opinion data on the criminal justice system to determine if there are any particular trends over time. We found some interesting ones which Anthony Piscitelli starts to uncover in this first video of a three-part series looking at the relationship between public opinion of the criminal justice system and crime policy in Canada.
So, what do you think? Does this raise any wicked questions for you? Does public opinion influence political decision making? Or do politicians influence public attitudes?
Footnote: “Wicked questions do not have an obvious answer. They are used to expose the assumptions which shape our actions and choices. They are questions that articulate the embedded and often contradictory assumptions we hold about an issue, context or organization. A question is ‘wicked’ if there is an embedded paradox or tension in the question.” From: Tamarack Learning Centre
When you have the opportunity to learn from someone who has ‘been there’… take it! This week, we had the honour of welcoming and hosting Jamie Courtorielle in Waterloo Region. Jamie is cycling across Canada in order to raise awareness about addictions and the destruction it is causing in our families, communities, and most of all, our youth. Jamie spent 3 days in our communities visiting youth programs like R.O.O.F and inREACH, meeting area politicians and spending time at the Weejeendimin Native Resource Centre. Our regular guest blogger, Frank Johnson, sat down with Jamie one afternoon to pick his brain on a few questions.
Our By the Numbers feature is back with a series of video blogs by Anthony Piscitelli, our very own Supervisor, Planning and Research with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council. In his first video post, Anthony takes a closer look at the numbers from a recent WRCPC publication about crossover children; “From One System to Another: Crossover Children in Waterloo Region.”
If you have more questions, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post. Or, you are welcome to give Anthony a call directly. We can be reached at 519.883.2304.
