Irwin M. Cohen

Comparative Examination of the Prevalence of Mental Disorders Among Jailed Inmates in Canada and the United States

The seriously mentally ill receive better care in British Columbia than anyAmerican state, according to a recent comparative study conducted by Dr. E.Fuller Torrey of the Public Citizen Health Research Group founded by con-sumer advocate Ralph Nader. Torrey claims that mental health services inBritish Columbia scored 21 out of a possible 25 points along several service di-mensions, while the closest U.S. state received 17 points. He further maintainsthat compared to New York state, British Columbia appears to be deliveringservices almost twice as good at approximately half the cost (“B.C.’s mentalhealth system rates better than U.S.,” 1993, p. 5). These claims lend supportto an earlier comparative analysis of the criminalization of psychiatrically illpeople by Borzecki and Wormith (1988). They argued that, in spite of incon-clusive Canadian research, it would not be unexpected if, in future studies,rates were found to be lower in Canada than in the United States because ofthe differences in the mental health care systems of these two countries. If thisexpectation is valid, then the prevalence of serious mental illness among peo-ple in Canada should be lower than those arrested in the United States. In oneof the few Canadian studies, we surveyed men admitted to a pretrial jail in alarge Canadian city. Jailed inmates were selected rather than prison inmatesbecause of the likelihood that substantial number of mentally ill individuals

Serious and Violent Young Offenders’ Decisions to Recidivate: An Assessment of Five Sentencing Models

Five models of sentencing were assessed with respect to their impact on the decisions of young offenders to recidivate. The five sentencing models tested were fairness, deterrence, chronic offender lifestyle, special needs, and procedural rights. A sample of 400 incarcerated young offenders from the Vancouver, British Columbia, metropolitan area were asked questions regarding their attitudes toward these sentencing models and their intentions to recidivate after serving a period of incarceration. Principal components analyses suggested that although these models do not function independently, two composite models do shed some light on the issues that young offenders consider when contemplating their decisions and intentions to recidivate. Despite the ability of these models to predict half of the explained variance in young offenders’ decisions regarding recidivism, a majority of the sample appeared to not be affected exclusively by cost-benefit analysis, punishment, or reintegrative motivations. The authors conclude that without additional variables and even higher predictive validity, it is premature for policy makers to focus on any single model of sentencing in constructing juvenile justice laws.

State Torture in the Contemporary World

This article argues that the variation in the use of torture as a mechanism of state terrorism can be best explained by recent changes in the global economy, the increasing influence of liberal-democratic political ideology, and the advent of anti-state Islamic terrorism. Specifically, although the use of state torture as a matter of policy is widespread, as societies shift from an agrarian society to an industrial and an advanced capitalist society, the disutility of policies of state torture increases primarily due to economic interdependence, the distribution of wealth, minimum standards of living, and the influence of the global media and the international community. While advanced liberal, capitalist states have employed state torture in the past and to a lesser extent more recently, these instances typically involve the use of torture against the citizens of other countries, privatizing torture organizations, or employing surrogate countries. The main focus of this article, however, is to explain the current growing disutility of policies of state torture as a form of state terror against real or perceived internal threats to the government or the state. Nonetheless, national variations in the extent or type of state torture will remain; however, this variation is primarily dependent on the type of macroeconomic structure of a country and its consequent economic integration in the emergent global economy.

The British Columbia Alcohol and Other Drug Monitoring System: Overview and Early Progress

This pilot project is a province-wide and nationally=supported collaboration intended to add value to existing monitoring and surveillance exercises that currently exist and are being developed in Canada. The fundamental aim is to create a system that generates a timely flow of data on hazardous patterns of substance use and related harms so as to inform public debate, to support effective policy, and to facilitate policy-relevant epidemiological research. Pilot and feasibility exercises have been conducted in relation to developing consistent questions in surveys of general and special populations, treatment system data, data on the contents of drugs seized by police, interviews with police, rates of alcohol and other drug mortality and morbidity, alcohol sales data, and data from the emergency departments. Wherever possible, links with the equivalent national data collection processes have been established to create consistencies. This article provides a general overview of the BC pilot monitoring system and discusses some potential advantages of planning and designing a comprehensive system with built-in consistencies across data collection elements.

Evidence‐based solution to information sharing between law enforcement agencies

Purpose – The aim of this study is to test a technological solution to two traditional limitations of information sharing between law enforcement agencies: data quality and privacy concerns.Design/methodology/approach – Entity Analytics Software (EAS) was tested in two studies with North American law enforcement agencies. In the first test, duplicated cases held in a police record system were successfully identified (4.0 percent) to a greater extent than the traditionally used software program (1.5 percent). This resulted in a difference of 11,954 cases that otherwise would not have been identified as duplications. In the second test, entity information held separately by police and border officials was shared anonymously between these two organizations. This resulted in 1,827 alerts regarding entities that appeared in both systems; traditionally, this information could not have been shared, given privacy concerns, and neither agency would be aware of the relevant information held by the other. Data dupli...

An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Associated With Repeat Homicide in Canada

The current study presents the results of the first Canadian national study on the characteristics of repeat homicide offenders and the factors associated with homicide recidivism. The research involves an analysis of National Parole Board (NPB) files for all homicide offenders in Canada who committed more than one homicide ( n = 86) between 1975 and 2005 and a matched sample of homicide offenders who only committed one homicide (n = 84). Descriptive and bivariate analyses are used to examine and compare characteristics of single-time homicide offenders (SHOs) and repeat homicide offenders (RHOs). Logistic regression analysis reveals that RHOs lacked employment prior to their first homicide and became involved in alcohol and drug-influenced lifestyles. Furthermore, RHOs experience reductions in family and community support after release from custody for the first homicide. This reduction of support will likely reflect at-risk behavior and crime lifestyles associated with being unlawfully at large and alcohol and drug involvement.

The mandate and activities of a specialized crime reduction policing unit in Canada

Abstract There has been a lexical shift in policing terminology from ‘crime prevention’ to ‘crime reduction.’ Still, the overarching goals continue to include addressing crime and disorder and providing public protection. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has developed specialized crime reduction units (CRUs) as one strategy to achieve these objectives; however, there has been limited research on these units’ mandates and crime reduction strategies in a Canadian policing context. This paper presents the findings of qualitative interviews and descriptive statistics collected from one RCMP CRU to examine how the Unit’s officers articulated the specific tasks established in their mandate and whether their policing activities reflected the mandate’s distinctive objectives. Results suggest that communication and human resource challenges led to officers’ tentativeness in expressing their Unit’s mandate and the teams’ restricted use of analytical tools, respectively. This research has implications for policing agencies seeking to develop specialized CRUs.

Remarks by Commentating Editor

Continuing the tradition of this journal, this issue provides a wide range of articles that incorporates theory and research, and combines the latest in academic thought with applied police practice. Importantly, while each article uses a research sample or examines an issue that is geographically bound in some way, each article is able to demonstrate the relevance and implications of the subject matter for policing organizations and academics globally. The first article in this issue is by William Spencer and Jodi Millot. In their article, entitled ‘An exploration of attitudes and support needs of police officer negotiators involved in suicide negotiation’, the authors address the important issue of suicide negotiations using a grounded theory research methodology to consider the attitudes and needs of police officers involved in these types of negotiations. While this particular study used a sample from Scotland, this type of research is extremely valuable because many police officers and other first responders throughout the world lack the necessary training or access to mental health resources to help them cope with the potential shortand long-term psychological effects of their jobs as suicide negotiators. The authors conclude that, although, in this sample, peer support networks were effective, much more robust supports in the areas of suicide intervention and mental health awareness to support the physical and mental well-being of police negotiators was required. The next article, ‘The changing landscape of policing: The Metro-LEC approach’, by Julie Sclnobrich-Davis, highlights the substantial changes that are occurring in many police organizations. The author argues that as a result of the terror attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, and the tightening of police budgets, police agencies have had to find new and innovative ways to respond to critical events and large projects. One approach that has been adopted by many police agencies is to develop interagency cooperative ventures or integrated response teams. By examining the success of the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, the author argues that building meaningful partnerships and establishing cross-jurisdictional special units to respond to serious or large incidents is an adaptive strategy that more police agencies are likely to adopt. In ‘Temporal transaction patterns in an open-air cannabis market’, Moeller addresses the issue of open-air cannabis markets, specifically in Scandinavia. The author links the development of open-air markets to Scandinavia’s lenient drug control policy and a lack of enforcement of cannabis possession legislation. Moeller uses principles of environmental criminology to examine the time of day and day of the week for outdoor and indoor sales of cannabis in one open-air cannabis market. The author concludes that those who purchase cannabis in this market preferred lower prices over a wider selection and that those who sell cannabis altered their hours of operation based on temporal factors. Given this, the author recommends that the police would be more effective in deterring this type of activity by using this type of temporal data to guide their patrols.