Exploring the Gender, Race and Class Dimensions of Victimization: A Left Realist Critique of the Canadian Urban Victimization Society

The Canadian Urban Victimization Survey (CUVS) has made an important contribution to the development of victimology in Canada. This research has major limitations that preclude it from providing an adequate understanding of the gender, class, and ethnic dimensions of criminal victimization. This article argues that British left realist survey technology can be productively employed in a Canadian program of local crime survey research to produce a more detailed description of patterns of victimization, its impact, and control

Aboriginalising the parole process: ‘Culturally appropriate’ adaptations and the Canadian federal parole system

The increasing ‘diversity’ of penal populations in most western countries over the past three decades raises questions as to the fairness and appropriateness of established penal programmes and practices. In some jurisdictions, penal policy-makers and administrators are being forced to deal with the implications of offender diversities, including race, ethnicity, gender, culture and religion, in policy and planning. In Canada, the pervasive over-representation of Aboriginal individuals in prisons has led to calls for change in how the corrections and parole systems deal with Aboriginal prisoners. This article examines the advent of one ‘culturally appropriate’ adaptation of the parole process, the Elder assisted hearing, introduced in 1992 by the Parole Board of Canada as a means of (1) addressing the problem of over-representation and (2) being responsive to Aboriginal difference. It shows that the ‘Aboriginalisation’ of parole hearing formats is by no means a straightforward process, and is illustrative of the broader challenges that racial, cultural and gender differences pose to contemporary penality

Taking Woman Abuse Seriously: A Critical Response to the Solicitor General of Canada's Crime Prevention Advice

While women experience male violence and intimidation in both public and private settings, the most serious and common threats to their physical and psychological well-being are abusive acts committed by known men. However, the Solicitor General of Canada's recent crime advice to women does not address this problem. The principal objective of this paper is to show how this discourse obscures the reality of woman abuse in Canada