How Risk of Crime and Violence Varies with Gender - Research Paper Example

How Risk of Crime and Violence Varies with Gender It’s very hard to know the exact figures relating to gender and crime based violence due to the many cases that go unreported .This is because many victims of crimes like rape, for both men and women, often prefer to avoid reporting such cases for fear of stigmatization and victimization. The statistics on the prevalence of violence and crime varies from one study to another due to differences in the administration of the survey. Additionally, police-based surveys do not categorize crimes in terms of gender, they categorize the crimes as either violent or non-violent. However, recent statistics from a police based survey in Canada, reported that in 2011, an estimated 173,600 women aged between 15 years and above, were victimized through violent crime. This translated to 1,207 women for every 100,000 while for men, the rate was 1,151 for every 100,000. Generally, the women were at more risk of violent crimes than men. It should be noted that, different crimes have different prevalence rates in every gender. Generally, both men and women were victims of the same violent crimes. According to the study, the most prevalent crime perpetrated against women was normal assault, which contributed around 49%, uttering threats was placed at 13%, serious assault was 10% , the mildest form of sexual assault (sexual assault level 1) contributed to 10 %, while criminal harassment constituted about 7%. For men, the most prevalent crime perpetrated against them was assault, which contributed to 42%, serious assault constituted 19%, uttering threats constituted 16%, robbery stood at 10%, while all the other forms of assault constituted 5%. From the statistics, it is easy to identify that women are more prone to falling victim to sexual assault cases offences. On the other hand, men were more likely to be victims of robbery. Further analysis revealed that for particular offences, women were more likely to report violent crimes perpetrated against them than men. This can be attributed to the fact that men are perceived by society as being infallible and reporting violent crimes like assault to the police, would bruise their ego. Additionally, women were found to be 3 times more likely to be criminally harassed, 11 times more likely to be sexually victimized and 2 times more likely to be harassed, via the phone and through indecent acts, than men. For men, the likelihood of being victimized through more violent crimes, was much higher than women. The men were likely to be victims of violent offences like attempted murder, homicide, robbery, uttering threats and serious bodily harm through assault. Violence against women has generally subsided over the last couple of years due to the joint initiative of the government and communities, in order to curb violence against women. As stated earlier, information on gender based violence is lacking, however, homicide rates, which are well documented, are good indicators of violent crime rates. Therefore, the best way to analyze the prevalence and risk of violence, for both genders, is to analyze the rate of homicides over the last couple of years. Records indicate that the rate of homicide for women, greatly declined between 1970 and 2000. In fact, the reduction is close to 60%. But between 2000 and 2010, percentages of homicide against women remained the same despite increases in homicide rates in Canada. The decrease in homicide rates against women can be attributed to the increased availability of resources and socio-economic empowerment for women. Nowadays, women have the resources to defend themselves against violent crime unlike in the past, when they solely relied on their male counterparts. For men, they have consistently recorded higher homicide rates than women, even though the rates have relatively stabilized since the late 1990s. However, women are at a greater risk of hate crimes. A good example is the 1989 murder of 14 girls in Montreal, which was later established to be motivated by the perpetrator’s general hatred for women. In terms of hate crimes based on gender, women record higher rates than men generally. In a 2010 survey, police determined that there had been 7 gender based hate crimes. Hate crimes are on the rise and in order to put the matter in perspective, an analysis of what constitutes hate crime has to be established (Sweeten et al 65). Hate crime extends not only to gender but sexual orientation, race, religion and other salient characteristics. Therefore, both men and women can have a crime perpetrated against them for a number of reasons. Canadian officials estimate that in 2010, in terms of classification of hate crime against women, they accounted for the following percentages- race (29%), sexual orientation (16%) and religion (32%).This means that men were more prone to the hate crime categories listed above in 2010 (Quillian et al 101). The risk of violence and crime according to gender, also matters with the region that the person is. For example, the police were able to report that Manitoba and Saskatchewan recorded consistent higher rates for police reported violent crimes against women than other regions. The figure was found to be twice the national average, while the rates for violent crimes against men in these regions were within the normal range. However, other areas such as Quebec and Ontario recorded very low rates for violent crimes against women, but they were relatively high for men. In some instances, the risk of crime tends to be the same for both genders. Such instances include the risk of property crime where both genders stood at 16%. However men were twice more likely to be victims of a violent property crime than women. Other instances where the crime prevalence rate remained relatively similar, was when the crime committed was perpetrated in a deprived region, which stood at 20%. In summary, for victimization and police-reported cases, women are at a higher risk of specific types of violence than men. This is mainly true for the rates of intimate partner violence and extreme spousal abuse. Criminal harassment and sexual crimes were more prevalent in women than in men, while rates of attempted murder, homicide and physical assault, were more prevalent in men than in women. Extent to which Criminal Justice Decision Making is Effective Currently, violence against women continues to be a serious issue in Canada despite government and community intervention. Additional measures need to be adopted and implemented to respond and prevent persisting crime and violence targeted against women. The Canadian criminal justice system is facing complex challenges in dealing with cross gender crime. The criminal justice departments have responded to cross gender crime activities by adopting initiatives that will change the entire system. Some of the measures adopted include-crime prevention programs and community safety initiatives, diversion programs aimed at reducing the number of offenders who enter the formal justice system, different approaches to the youth justice system, specialized courts, restorative justice systems and programs, creation of an integrated information system for the entire justice system and adoption of new strategies to curb organized crime. The responses adopted by the government have the capacity to entirely change the justice system in order to deal with cross gender crime. The efforts to respond to the crimes have been due to the coordination and liaison between government agencies, with the main aim of program delivery, coordinating policies and sharing information. The government realized that cross gender crime activities were increasingly based on ethnicity and in 1992, the government developed an action plan that aimed at incorporating members of the African Canadian community in all sectors of government, including the criminal justice system. The officials of Metropolitan Toronto and Toronto’s black community, developed a working paper to address issues like education, youth, social services, justice and policing. Additionally, the plan improved efforts to appoint African Canadian members into the judiciary, recruit black police officers, conduct anti-racism training at all levels and enhance police access into black community residential areas. The implementation of the plan has been attributed to the increase in dealing with violent crime among African Canadian residents. (Hannah-Moffat et al 56) A task force dealing with gender equality by the Canadian Bar Association, examined gender equality issues in the justice department. They discovered that there were barriers to access to legal access for minorities and women. They found that the system was ineffective in its decision making regarding cross gender crime events and recommended that the government should review the status of women and minorities in leadership positions, in the Canadian Bar Association on an annual basis. Aborigine women have been identified as being at a higher risk of violence and crime than their male counterparts. In particular, the Government of Manitoba created the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in 1988. The inquiry was in response to the murder of an Aborigine woman, Helen Betty Osborne, by two men. Her murder trial did not take place until sixteen years later. Another case involved the death an Aborigine man, Joseph Harper, by a police officer from the City of Winnipeg. These cases illustrate how for many years, the decision making mechanism of the Canadian criminal justice system was ineffective. However, the inquiry tried to improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system by recommending the creation of an Aboriginal justice system, which would enable the Aborigines to deal with crime and violence prevention and sentencing, for all genders. Additionally, the inquiry recommended that, the police department should provide youth specialists and training to all police officers who deal with the youth, Aborigine- based alternative measures and diversion programs, community participation in sanctions, sentencing and enforcement of the laws (Maurutto et al 97). Elected bodies and agencies have different priorities and interests. Therefore, it is very difficult for the criminal justice system to have an effective decision making capacity and detailed strategies, to coordinate the implementation of necessary measures aimed at curbing cross gender criminal activities. This means that, the capacity of the criminal justice system to maintain high levels of public safety is under severe pressure. There needs to be an assessment of the challenges and impact of the criminal justice system implementation, enforcement and decision making to ensure that they are working effectively (Henne et al 38). Works Cited Hannah-Moffat, Kelly and Paula Maurutto. “Re-Contextualizing Pre- Sentence Reports: Risk and Race.” Punishment and Society 12: 262-286, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2014 (http://pun.sagepub.com.libproxy auc.ca/content/12/3/262.ull.pdf+html) Henne, Kathryn. and Troshynski, Emily. “Mapping the Margins of Intersectionality: Criminological Possibilities in a Transnational World. Theoretical Criminology, 17: 455-473, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2014 (http://tcr.sagepub.com.libproxy.auc.ca/content/17/4/455.full.pdf) Maurutto, Paula. and Hannah-Moffat, Kelly. “Understanding Risk in the Context of the Youth Criminal Justice Act”. Canadian Journal of Criminology & Criminal Justice, 49: 465-491, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2014 (http://ehis.ebscohost.com libproxy.auc. ca/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=6d9da736-c494-4d23- 98ad-c2b0d7ad86e3%40sessionmgr4005&hid=4103). Quillian, Uncoln. and Pager, Devah. “Estimating Risk: Stereotype Amplification and the Perceived Risk of Criminal Victimization. Social Psychology Quarterly, 73: 79-101, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2014 (http://www.jstor.org libproxy.auc.ca/stable/pdfplus/25677386.pdf?acceptTC=true). Sweeten, Garry. Piquero, Alex R. and Steinberg, Laurence. Age and the Explanation of Crime, Revisited. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42: 921-938, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2013 (http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.libproxy. .auc.ca/tmp/13394289340308804842.pdf). Read More