Crime and Punishment in Canada--A History.

Crime and Punishment in Canada--A History. Owen, Carrigan D. Crime and Punishment Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступление и наказание) is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, that was first published in the in Canada--A History.Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Inc., 1991. Pp. 554. Tables, appendices.$24.95 (paper). This book will be of particular interest to those readers concernedwith urban affairs, as Carrigan makes it clear that the great bulk ofcriminal action in Canada, aside from that attributed to native peoples,has taken place and is still taking place in an urban setting. Whilethere are obvious exceptions to the rule, the dark side of human naturemanifests itself or is detected when people are grouped together inclose proximity. The factual material in this book, often presented intime series for easy comparison, will aid serious students of socialhistory, criminology and the administration of law in reachingconclusions in as objective a manner as possible. Professor Carrigan is one of the first historians to analyze thesubjects in a comprehensive way in Canada. He captures our interest byhis citation of some of the first cases of crime in Canada Crime in Canada has occurred throughout its history, and has experienced wide swings in its prevalence. Much study has been done of the comparative experience and policies of Canada with its southern neighbour the United States, and this is a topic of intense debate within Canada. from theearly days of French settlement. He mentions theft, murder and theplotting of revolution that were punished by both Roberval andChamplain. His work is divided into two parts: a review of the kinds andfrequency of criminal activity, with detailed discussions of whitecollar crime white collar crimen. a generic term for crimes involving commercial fraud, cheating consumers, swindles, insider trading on the stock market, embezzlement and other forms of dishonest business schemes. , organized and juvenile crime and the offenses committed bywomen; followed by a segment on the treatment of those convicted of thecrimes discussed, again with specialized accounts of the treatment ofjuveniles and women. Carrigan raises many pointed questions on the causes of criminalactivity and the utility of the various options for punishment,including incarceration Confinement in a jail or prison; imprisonment.Police officers and other law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state, and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes. . These will doubtless continue to occupydiscussion agendas for many years to come. He points out convincinglyhow the crime rates have risen in the past thirty years after remainingrelatively stable over the previous centuries and links the increase tothe "me" generation syndrome illustrated by increases in whitecollar crime, juvenile and organized crime and increased crime relatedto substance abuse, particularly drugs. While Canada has had a deservedreputation for a low level of criminal activity, crime has always beenwith us and is on the increase. The public's perception of crimehas always had a larger impact on corrective measures than the actualcrime statistics. The material in this book could allay a number ofpotential misconceptions. It is interesting to note, even in this balanced account, how theperception of criminals changes as they move from an "atlarge" status to an incarcerated state. There is an obvious concernon the part of the public to restrain criminal activity, whether itsroots lie in the shirking of social responsibility, a lack of moral orethical values or psychotic and antisocial antisocial/an��ti��so��cial/ (-so��sh'l)1. denoting behavior that violates the rights of others, societal mores, or the law.2. denoting the specific personality traits seen in antisocial personality disorder. behaviour. Modern societyappears to recognize that both social environments that nurture crime,and environments which exploit individuals are causes of crime needingcorrection. Carrigan points out that individuals continue to carry outcriminal acts regardless of the efforts devoted to eliminating basicsocioeconomic causes. Punishment and deterrence remain as the primefocus for the criminal justice system. Once the individual criminal is imprisoned, however, emphasis seemsto shift from punishment and deterrence to protecting that individualfrom potential abuses in the system. Public motivation changes from onethat demands prevention of the crime to one that focuses on thehumanitarian protection of the individual's rights and seems toforget the reasons the imprisonment ImprisonmentSee also Isolation.Alcatraz Islandformer federal maximum security penitentiary, near San Francisco; “escapeproof.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 218]Altmark, theGerman prison ship in World War II. [Br. Hist. was levied. Whatever our ideologicalslant in this contentious area, Carrigan's work reminds us thatcriminal activity will always be with us and that there are large areasof disagreement on how to prevent the occurrence of crime or correct thebehaviour of offenders. The reasons for crime remain varied, as does themotivation of criminals. An issue not dealt with in the book is the cost of the criminaljustice system and how it has grown over the years. Expenditures arehigh and continually rising. In the federal system alone, a cursoryexamination of the estimates of the Correctional Service indicate anannual expenditure of approximately $50,000.00 per offender, and higheramounts for those in maximum security. It would have been useful ifProfessor Carrigan had included tables on the relative costs of thesystem over time, including both the costs of law enforcement andcorrections. These figures may not be readily available, but, amongother things, they would be useful in comparing the arguments of expertson the validity of the programs they promote. A large portion of public funds See Fund, 3.See also: Public is expended on law enforcement andthe social welfare of prisoners and, as Carrigan points out in severalareas, there is little agreement on the efficacy of programs to preventrecidivism recidivism:see criminology. . Could our expenditure be reduced with the same effect? Arewe paying too much to support the relatively small percentage who do notrespond to programs? These are valid questions in today's economyand it is unfortunate little information is available on them in anotherwise comprehensive book. C. R. Scott History Department Carleton University Carleton University,at Ottawa, Ont., Canada; nonsectarian; coeducational; founded 1942 as Carleton College. It achieved university status in 1957. It has faculties of arts, social sciences, science, engineering, and graduate studies, as well as the Centre for