The most recent volume of the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice contains a number of lengthy laments about the state of “critical” criminology in Canada. The editors of the volume note that, “…critical scholarship is becoming increasingly restrained by an almost all-encompassing neo-liberal ethos. Scholars working under the critical rubric are finding sources of data defensively guarded, and publishing and funding opportunities increasingly difficult to locate”.

The most recent allocations of SSHRC awards don’t confirm this diagnosis, but it’s certainly true that at least some funding opportunities are foreclosed for those who are openly critical of the state’s criminal justice policies.

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For the past 27 years I have lived on Bowen Island, a small community just a few miles from the affluent city of West Vancouver. The island is mostly coastal rainforest, with rocky shores, warm dry summers, and cool wet winters. In the past 27 years the number of full-time residents has climbed from about 700 to almost 5,000.

The island has been discovered by a growing legion of retired couples, young families, tele-commuters, and artists. Back in 1996, when we amended our Official Community Plan we thought we had cleverly devised a plan that would keep our island small and green. We set out to encourage only single family dwellings on 2.5, 5 and 10 acre lots, an approach that we thought would both protect more green space, and discourage rapid population growth.

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Last week the Conservative government introduced a bill, euphemistically described as “three strikes” legislation. After three consecutive convictions for certain violent or sexual offences, an offender can be designated by the court as dangerous and subject to indeterminate confinement in a penitenitary, potentially for the rest of his life. The legislation will require the offender to establish that he is not a dangerous offender, reversing the long established principle that the state must establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt before it seeks to impose a term of imprisonment on those defined as criminal.

There are two problems with this legislation. The first speaks to basic principles of human rights. It is a socially dangerous proposition to require individuals to demonstrate that they are not deserving of punishment — to reverse the traditional onus of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The Supreme Court has ruled that reverse onus provisions are contrary to the Charter, and one can assume that this law, if it passes the House of Commons, will be challenged, and with any luck, successfully.

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For the past week the Vancouver Sun has been telling us of the alleged crimes of Tom Ellison, a former high school teacher who, according to the prosecution, committed multiple offences of gross indecency during the 1970s by engaging in consensual sexual relations with his teenage students. The charge of gross indecency no longer exists, but during the period in question it was typically used against homosexual males engaged in anal sex. In other words, the prosecution is asking the court to stretch its imagination to find a category of offence from the past that will permit a viable conviction today — and to date, the approach taken is not convincing.

There is little doubt that if he was to have sexual relations with his students today, Mr. Ellison’s actions would likely be found to be criminal — the “sexual exploitation” of students by a teacher, a person in a position of “authority” is now appropriately defined as a crime. But in the 1970s there was no such offence, and the age of consent was not an issue; the students in question were old enough to say yes or no.

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SFU Business Professor Gary Mauser was off to Ottawa last week to speak against the continued use of conditional sentences and, by implication, to speak in favour of longer terms of imprisonment for those convicted of criminal offences. Mauser indicated that research has shown that a 10 per cent increase in the rate of imprisonment will produce a dividend of a 13 per cent drop in the rate of homicide.

Those of us who study crime know where the statistic came from, a 1997 article by researcher Thomas Marvell and his co-author Carlisle Moody. Marvell has published articles that argue for allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons; he has also argued that taking individual fault out of the issue of divorce increases divorce rates (and, of course weakens the family, as social conservatives define it).

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Yesterday’s mail included a flier with the bold title, “Tackling Crime”. A photo of Stephen Harper, with four bullets (metaphorically speaking).
* More police
* Tougher laws
* Longer sentences
* Border security

And just in case you didn’t get the point that only the Tories are standing up to the toxic lethality of violence, there is a photo of an encircled shotgun shell on the flip side of the flier.

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