How To Lose Crime In Canada

Violent crime will always be a problem; just because Canada doesn’t face high rates of violent crime in comparison to other countries doesn’t deem it an unimportant issue. My knowledge about this topic, violent crime, has come from a variety of resources that will be discussed as this paper progresses. The crime control policies in Alberta and/or Canada to my knowledge are having a positive impact, but more could always be done. Overall, I believe an enhanced proactive approach is needed. The youth of our generation need to be educated more about the justice system, violent crimes, and risks of the gang life at an earlier age.

Throughout the years, crime rates in Canada’s and the United States’ major cities have decreased drastically. Regardless of the many factors that lead to increasing crime rates, such as unemployment, or bad economic circumstances. This essay will examine the many factors leading to the exponential decline of crime rates in North America. This essay will demonstrate how unemployment and economic hardship does not always lead to higher crime rates, how the growing increase of new technology aided in the decrease in crime rates, and the result of government funded programs helping to reduce crime rate. These factors should be discussed because it illustrates the progress of the judicial system and federal government throughout the years and it shows that people most vulnerable to committing crimes may not always commit crime. Similarly, it shows that economic factors leading to crime in the past are not always the case due to positive behavioral changes throughout the years.

The importance given to certain crimes in the daily newspapers and other media sources shows us proof to the fact that crime is a topic that has the public’s interest and is a focus of their worries (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001). It goes on to discuss the fact that crime as reported on by the media increases the public’s levels of fears and that there is little or no correlation to actual levels of violent crime in our society today.

Starting with Ken Dowler, Thomas Fleming, and Stephen Muzzatti, the authors of “Constructing Crime: Media, Crime and Popular Culture” (837-839) one can see how they believe the media impacts the view of crime from a public perspective. In Canada, crime is a main segment of the news and while that source would be considered informational, the subject of crime itself can also be for entertainment. Likely, North America favors the subject of crime and this can be prove true based on television content today through shows such as Chicago P.D., Law and Order: SVU, Killer Couples or Rosewood. While these shows and many others manage to hook an audience through intriguing storytelling of crime the lines between the true crime information and creative

Violent crime in Canada is on the rise in Canada as well as the types of

Criminal cases being more publicised will cause the viewers to be distressed about the number of murders and robberies occurring in Canada. The media will catch fire over these felonies causing many people to talk and spread the news making it seem like there is an epidemic of crimes even though the police-reported crime rate in Canada has been decreasing for over 2 decades. However, since the news stations and media will be broadcasting to the public about all these scandals and modify some of the facts to make it more “entertaining”, many people will believe it and think there are many criminal acts committed in Canada than there really are. The point here is that what the media chooses to focus on often times becomes the facts regardless of what the actual facts

(Australian Institute of Criminology, 2009, p. 6) The media’s representation of a rapidly increasing violent crime rate is not supported by statistics which reflect that while the crime rate is rising, the rate is steady and it is believed that this number could even be fluctuated by the increase of victims reporting these types of crime to the police. According to the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2007, 74% of the respondents had quite a lot/a great deal of confidence in the police to solve crime. (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2007 p. 16-17) Although the statistics show the general trend of violent criminal offences is static, a significant proportion of our population still has the perception that our crime rates are increasing (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010) due to media influence. Another way the media misrepresents Australia’s crime rate is by selectively reporting violent crimes whilst under reporting other offences, which are more prevalent in society.

Violent crimes present in British Columbia seemed to be decreasing between 2012 and 2014 with a 96.04 index in 2012 leading to a 11.58% drop in 2013 however by 2015 there was an increase of 7.43% still only putting the index at 82.99 from 77.25 the previous year (Statistics Canada, 2016). Throughout Canada there has also been a decrease between the years 2012 and 2014 for violent crimes with an 85.72 index in 2012 then going down to 70.50 by 2014 (Statistics Canada, 2016). The biggest drop in those years was again in 2013 with a 9.76% drop though by 2015 it started to increase to a 74.48 index making it a 5.65% change (Statistics Canada, 2016).

Due to the conflicting approaches between NYS and Canada on handling crime, I felt Canada was a good choice for this comparison. Canada in 1975 showed an even lower crime rate than NYS (see figure 1) but also peaked around the same years that NYS did (See figure 2 and 3 for visual comparison), with Canada’s highest violent crime rate in the range of dates falling in 1993 at 1082. Canada’s last data year was 2013, with a crime rate of 766. At first glance, the drop doesn’t seem as strong as the one NYS made, however, this is a significant decrease from years before, with the drop between 2012-2013 at 75. In NYS, the drop between 2013-2014 was only 12 (See figure 1). Additionally, the violent crime rate for NYS seems to be leveling out (see figure 2), whereas the violent crime rate for Canada appears to be starting to drop significantly (see figure 3). Overall, however, violent crime rates have dropped significantly for both areas since the 1990s, the peak rate of crime for both areas in this range of dates.

Kielburger, Craig and Mark. (2012) The Shocking Contributor to Crime in Canada. The Huffington Post. N.p. Retrieved from .

Many times, the media is the main cause in contributing and encouraging the creation of crime myths. The mass media have responsibilities to update the public on the activities occurring domestically and internationally. Stories or reports have to grab the attention of viewers and often times this is accomplished through methods of dramatizing and sensationalizing stories. Instead of stating solely fact, mass media reports have become bias opinions, allowing for it to evolve into more of an entertainment business rather than news.

There is a plethora of crime related movies, TV shows, video games, etc. Violent portrayals of crime are everywhere. As most Americans do not have any personal experience with the criminal justice system, public knowledge of how it operates comes mostly from the media. Dowler (2003) did a study on the relationship between consumption of such media and fear of being victimized by crime. He found that there is, in fact, a relationship and people who consume more of this media are more afraid of crime. “Regular viewers of crime shows are more likely to fear or worry about crime. Similarly, regular crime drama viewers are more likely to hold negative attitudes toward police effectiveness.” (Dowler,

Where we read these articles, what they chose to include and how they express the crimes are all aspects of the media that can impact how crimes are presented. The tenant fraud and robbery crime were both published ion Toronto focused platforms, however one was a daily newspaper while the other a monthly magazine. The Toronto Star is said to lean more toward the be more left wing by supporting Liberal views, which can cause their stories to focus more on the community and individuals, rather than the more political business side of a conservative platform. We saw this in the article through statements such as “terrorized their victims”, “plagued the city with the most gun violence this year” and “spreading like a bad smell”. The strong emphasis on how the community was impacted and with an ending that focused on a goal from police on how to solve this problem, proves it was casted as a problem frame. Problem frames interest and affect many

The mass media is a vehicle for delivering information and to entertain. But implications that the media do more harm than good concerning its practices and its effects on the public. The two main categories of mass media are print media and electronic media. Although they overlap in some areas, they differ mostly in the subject matter they cover and in their delivery methods. Research had been conducted in using both these forms to gauge the impact that each one has on the public. Print media tends to be more factual based whereas electronic media tend to focus more on visual aids to help relay the information. The public’s fear of crime has an impact on the public agenda of policy makers. Fear of crime not only affects individual but may

All things considered, what the media covers and how much they chose to cover has significantly changed over the years, the most apparent in crime coverage. This consistent coverage of crime gives the audience an opportunity to interact with the media. They can feel a part of the intensity of an investigation, cheer on the enforcers, become immersed in their stereotypes. On the other hand, they can appreciate deviance for its resilience to overcome and resist