Criminology Paper: Crime Analysis and Prevention Strategies in Canada

This criminology report provides an overview of crime and murder in Canada, beginning with the legal definitions of crime and murder according to the Canadian Criminal Code. It then presents crime statistics sourced from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey, highlighting crime rates in different regions and changes in homicide rates. The report also examines victim characteristics based on data from the General Social Survey (GSS), identifying patterns in victimization across various offenses. Furthermore, it explores the Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) theory as a potential explanation for murder, along with the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) and the Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program (SHOCAP) as key initiatives aimed at reducing crime. The report concludes by emphasizing the collaborative efforts of the federal and provincial governments in enforcing criminal law and the crucial role of data collection and analysis in shaping effective crime prevention strategies.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY
Criminology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRIMINOLOGY
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Legal definition of Crime and Murder in Canada......................................................................2
Crime statistics by UCR.............................................................................................................3
Victimization by GSS................................................................................................................4
Dissociative Identity Disorder theory explains Murder.............................................................5
National Crime Prevention Strategy..........................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References:.................................................................................................................................7

2CRIMINOLOGY
Introduction
In modern society, crime can be referred to as an act or an omission to do an act
which is prohibited under law and contravention of such law would attract punishments and
sanctions. Broadly, the concept of crime is viewed as equivalent to immoral, antisocial and
sinful approach of people which contravene the usual course of life in a civilized society. An
act is marked as a crime when the laws guiding it are violated. The idea of crime differs from
one can culture to the other except for certain severe wrongful actions like treason and incest
which are condemned in all civilized societies. Law in general reflects the interest of the
majority and prohibited such act which would hurt the norms of the dominant group. This is
certifying the principle of ‘happiness of the maximum number' propounded by Bentham. This
paper would include the legal definition of crime and the crime statistics as per the Uniform
Crime Reporting (UCR) system established in Canada in 1962 and the characteristics of the
victims as per the General Social Survey (GSS) (Cotter, 2014). It would also include a
criminal theory to explain the concept of crime. The paper strives to include a program which
is currently used in Canada for suppressing the serious crime of murder .
Legal definition of Crime and Murder in Canada
Under the Canadian law, a crime is an act that contravenes the provisions of the
Criminal Code of Canada. It is also regarded as an ‘offence’ under the criminal code. For
Example, if someone breaks into another person's home and threatens the person for money,
it gives effect to an offence of burglary under the Criminal Code of Canada (Gartner, 2017).
In Canada, murder is defined as culpable homicide with particular intention. Section
230 of the Canadian Federal law of Criminal Code defines Murder. Murder, a form of
culpable homicide seems to occur when a person causes death of another person while he
intends to cause bodily harm knowing that his actions might cause the death of the other

3CRIMINOLOGY
person. It becomes irrelevant whether the person meant to kill the other person or not. In
Canada, the offence of murder is classified under the First and Second degree Charge. First
degree murder in general involves a punishment of 10 to 25 years where as Second degree
murder involves a life-sentence imprisonment of 25 years (Adjorlolo & Chan, 2014).
Murder falls under the massive concept of Culpable Homicide which involves putting
a person to death by:
 By way of an illegal act,
 By way of negligence which is criminal in nature;
 By threatening or intimidating the person which was likely to cause his death;
 By frightening a child, old or a sick person who is likely to be scared and encounter
death.
Crime statistics by UCR
The Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR) along with the corporation of the
Policing community has reported 2, 204,812 actual incidents in 2017, out of which 1,880.70
cases involved an adult ("Uniform Crime Reporting Survey", 2018). Regina is having the
highest crime rate among the cities followed by Saskatoon. Quebec has the lowest rate of
crime (Douglas et al., 2013).
In 2016 the number of homicide victims was reported to be 611. This makes the rate
of homicide in 100,000 populations to 1.68. In 2017, 660 homicides have been reported
which is 48 more than last year ("Canada at a Glance 2017 - Crime", 2018). It has been
pointed out that there is an increase of 7% of the homicide rate. From 1.68 in 2016, it has
increased to 1.80 in 2017 ("Canada's homicide rate declines to 44-year low | CBC News",
2018). The number of homicide had dropped to 594 in 2007 which was 12 lesser than the last
year. Winnipeg has been declared as the ‘Murder Capital’ of the country for topping the

4CRIMINOLOGY
homicide chart rate since 1981 and being the topper for 20 times. The eastern provinces
observe lesser number of crimes than the ones in the west, of which Manitoba and
Saskatchewan have the highest rate of crime ("Uniform Crime Reporting Survey", 2018).
Victimization by GSS
The General Social Survey (GSS) carried out a survey on victimization on the Canadians
which helped them form 8 types of offences ("Global Skills Strategy (GSS)", 2018). They are
as follows:
1. Sexual assault
2. Physical assault
3. Robbery
4. Theft of personal property
5. Theft of motor vehicles for its parts
6. Theft of household properties
7. Break and enter
8. Vandalism
The characteristics of the victim depend from offence from one page to another
depending on the circumstances ("Criminal victimization in Canada, 2014", 2018). The
Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR) and the General Social Survey (GSS) have been
quite successful in reporting the crime statistics and various types of victimization of the
offences pertaining to Canada.
With the help and support of data provided by the UCR and GSS, the characteristics of
the murder victims are identified and analysed. The demographic features and characteristics
of the victim leave an impact on the disposition of a murder case at the different stages of
Police investigation. The colour, race, sex, DNA, blood sample, etcetera helps the

5CRIMINOLOGY
investigating authority to connect the victim with the murderer. Even though these factors
may differ from case to case yet they are usually consistent with their purpose.
Dissociative Identity Disorder theory explains Murder
A Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) enable a person function normally in his day
to day life. The trauma imbibed in such person mind does not damage his ability to conduct a
normal life. He faces identity crisis at times; this somehow helps him to manage his traumatic
past. In this case, the person purposely and consciously avoids the traumatic and unpleasant
experiences of daily life. In this condition, the pathological patient shifts between different
identities. The traumatic and dark past of the patient instigates him to commit immoral acts
like homicides (Edelstein, 2015). Previously, the Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) was
known as multiple personality disorder which made the patient experience different types of
characters and emotions within him. Scientist Carlisle states that murderer runs an
imaginative scenario in their mind which may instigate them to commit a crime.
National Crime Prevention Strategy
The National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) is a significant program of the
Canadian government which aims to tackle crime in order to construct stronger, better and
healthier community. The NCPS is the regulatory framework which strives to support the
purpose of preventing crime, financially and strategically; also by spreading knowledge about
what is needed for preventing crime ("National Crime Prevention Strategy", 2018).
In addition, Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program targets
the youth who commits criminal acts frequently. It is an extensive collaboration between the
criminal justice Agencies and community services ("National Crime Prevention Strategy",
2018). The aims and objective of the Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action
Program (SHOCAP) is to disseminate resources and information to various agencies and

6CRIMINOLOGY
authorities who are working the habitual young offenders. SHOCAP supports the agencies
that strive to provide extra attention to the severely affected habitual juvenile offenders by
making them realise their mistakes and offer them rehabilitation services so that they could
start their life afresh with the head held high in the society, without opting for the support of
an illegal work to support his livelihood. The purpose of SHOCAP is to:
 Looks for the habitual or serious offenders in the society,
 Arrange for resources to provide the requirements of the juvenile offenders,
 To check and diminish the number of habitual juvenile offender, and
 To protect and enhance the safety of the public large.
Conclusion
The Canadian criminal courts strive to protect the people of Canada from crimes in
every possible way. The provincial government shares the responsibility with the Federal
government to enforce law when there is a violation of the rules and regulation. However, the
authority to adjudicate criminal offences is vested upon the Federal government. This
privilege is only dedicated to the provinces for some type of criminal offences. The country
follows a uniform civil code for adjudicating criminal cases. However, the Level for spirit
may vary to some extent from one province to another. The data regulatory bodies like the
Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR) and the General Social Survey (GSS) have been
doing a commendable job by collecting, analysing and making use of the data, not only
relating to crime but other aspects as well, to provide for a better society.

7CRIMINOLOGY
References:
Adjorlolo, S., & Chan, H. C. O. (2014). The controversy of defining serial murder:
Revisited. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19(5), 486-491.
Canada at a Glance 2017 - Crime. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/12-581-x/2017000/cri-eng.htm
Canada's homicide rate declines to 44-year low | CBC News. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-s-homicide-rate-declines-to-44-year-low-
1.1010738
Cotter, A. (2014). Homicide in Canada, 2013. Juristat: Canadian Centre for Justice
Statistics, 1.
Criminal victimization in Canada, 2014. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2015001/article/14241-eng.htm
Douglas, J., Burgess, A. W., Burgess, A. G., & Ressler, R. K. (2013). Crime classification
manual: A standard system for investigating and classifying violent crime. John Wiley
& Sons.
Edelstein, A. (2015). Dissociative identity disorder theory explaining serial murder and
murderers. Journal of Trauma and Treatment S, 4, 2167-1222
Gartner, R. (2017). Homicide in Canada. In Violence in Canada (pp. 186-222). Routledge.
Global Skills Strategy (GSS). (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/results-by-topic.asp?st=17.11
National Crime Prevention Strategy. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/crm-prvntn/strtg-en.aspx

8CRIMINOLOGY
Promising and Model Crime Prevention Programs. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/prmsng-mdl-vlm1/index-
en.aspx#toc_1a
Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/survey/business/3302