Looking glass: Canadian Centre for Justice statistics.

• Author: John Winterdyk

A number of years ago, British criminologist Leon Radzinowicz compared statistics to a bikini. He said, "... what they reveal is highly suggestive but what they hide is vital." The public's perception of crime and criminal justice issues is somewhat analogous to the bikini. Much of the public's social reality of crime is based on statistics which when covered by the media are often distorted, biased, and otherwise incomplete or exaggerated information about ordinary events. The end result is a blurring of fact and fiction. Unfortunately, it is public perception which can dictate criminal justice policy. This was quite evident in the Ryan Garrioch case in 1992. As a result of public backlash, stiffer penalties were introduced for young offenders who commit first degree murder. The bludgeoning deaths of a Montreal clergyman and his wife by three teenagers, in 1995, has applied considerable pressure on the federal government to pass Bill C-37. The Bill would raise the maximum penalty from five to ten years.

But, who is really to blame, for the distortion of crime and criminal justice information? While we are often quick to point a finger at the media, several researchers have found that the public's fascination with certain crimes and criminal justice issues often provides the basis for what is newsworthy even though such coverage provides a very limited understanding of criminal justice matters. The truth is that the government, law enforcement officials, the interests of reform groups, and agencies such as the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) all play a major role in directing the public's attention to select problems.

This article will first present an overview of how we have collected official crime statistics. It will then describe how the media use this information, and in particular, that from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, in forging the public's perceptions.

Creating a Looking Glass

Official criminal justice statistics have been collected in Canada, in one form or another, since the mid 1800s. The rationale for their development was to accumulate data on the efficiency and effectiveness of criminal justice agencies, to enumerate crimes as an index of national moral health, to collect crime data for analysis and comparison with other information, and to collect information on criminals for purposes of scientific study.

The first type of criminal justice data to be collected in Canada, in 1867, was correctional data. However, information about prisoners has only been available since 1937. The second type of criminal justice statistics to be gathered was judicial statistics. This data was collected between 1876 and 1973. And unfortunately, there have been no national statistics on court decisions since 1973! Disputes between the federal and provincial governments curtailed the program. The third source of official criminal justice statistics...