Hand clapping: crime statistics.

• Author: Walter Kubanek

How goes the battle against crime in Canada?

Is criminal activity being discouraged by better laws and practices, which discover more criminals, or is our society becoming more lawless, thus requiring ever harsher measures against the growing hordes of offenders?

How should we respond to a rise or fall in the crime rate? I will speak from one perspective: official crime statistics measure lawful activities of victims, police, and courts. Crime statistics confuse increased crime with increased effort or efficiency in response to crime. In other words, official crime rates reflect the crimes reported and the offenders caught, not the actual frequency of the criminal activity. The better the policing, for example, the higher the crime rate. Where can this perspective lead us?

Only some victims of crime choose to bring their complaints to the attention of police. Minor theft or malicious damage may not seem important enough to involve authorities. The complaint process may appear too time consuming. The victim may remain silent, feeling police action won't recover lost property, or bring satisfaction.

Without victims or witnesses speaking out, crimes do not become public. Like an iceberg, the extent of criminal behaviour in society remains hidden.

How do we catch more criminals?

How do we increase the crime rate beneficially? To uncover under-reported crime, victims and witnesses, legislators and judges, police and lawyers must act differently. Greater victim activism, more laws identifying criminal conduct, and less rigid judicial standards for conviction, all increase the likelihood of prosecution. Improved policing helps find more crime. Any improvement in justice system efficiency may raise the official crime rate even as it may discourage actual criminal events.

Observe how we catch more offenders using new legislation, technology, and policing strategy:

The progress made in discouraging drinking drivers provides examples of strategies which raise the crime rate but provide us with a safer society. The breathalyzer instrument was invented decades before its use finally became commonplace with federal legislation enacted in 1967 and with breathalyser instruments and trained operators placed in every community. Only with this supporting legislation and directed law enforcement funding did compulsory breathalyzer testing of impaired drivers became a regular police activity. Breathalyser test results became conclusive evidence of a driver's alcohol consumption, simplifying conviction of...