Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Over the last forty years, diversion of young offenders from the criminal justice system has been a part of youth justice policy in Canada. Over this period of time numerous research studies have examined the effectiveness of diversion programs. Many have had similar conclusions: diversion programs do not draw the majority of their participants from court bound populations. While the purpose of diversion was to limit state intervention into the lives of young people, it has instead served to extend the arm of the law by increasing state intervention for many young offenders. Yet, despite the evidence diversion policy and programs continue to garner broad based support. This research is an attempt to understand the popularity of diversion over time and explore the purposes, beyond that of a reduction in the use of youth court, that diversion serves. This research examines two police pre-charge diversion programs in Ontario, Canada. Diversion is explored from the perspective of the police that use and operate these programs as well as from the perspective of the young people processed in them.

Over the last forty years, diversion of young offenders from the criminal justice system has been a part of youth justice policy in Canada. Over this period of time numerous research studies have examined the effectiveness of diversion programs. Many have had similar conclusions: diversion programs do not draw the majority of their participants from court bound populations. While the purpose of diversion was to limit state intervention into the lives of young people, it has instead served to extend the arm of the law by increasing state intervention for many young offenders. Yet, despite the evidence diversion policy and programs continue to garner broad based support. This research is an attempt to understand the popularity of diversion over time and explore the purposes, beyond that of a reduction in the use of youth court, that diversion serves. This research examines two police pre-charge diversion programs in Ontario, Canada. Diversion is explored from the perspective of the police that use and operate these programs as well as from the perspective of the young people processed in them.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / W. Richard Goe / Ryan E. Spohn / This study seeks to explain variation in incarceration rates across states. To account for such variation, the study combines approaches: the Rusche & Kirchheimer (1939) thesis, which proposes that incarceration rates rise with unemployment due to potential threat to social order from the unemployed, was merged with social stratification theories to develop a theoretical model explaining variations in state incarceration rates by social class and race. The last 30 years have seen a number of studies dedicated to investigating the validity of the Rusche and Kirchheimer (1939) thesis, but these studies have yielded inconsistent results. This study adheres to and advances Rusche and Kirchheimer’s thesis, exploring the relationship between unemployment rates and incarceration rates utilizing nationwide state-level data. I tested the influence of economic factors on prison rates across the nation interacting with race-ethnicity using time series hierarchical regression, and data indicates mixed support for the Rusche and Kirchheimer thesis. This study found that important predictors related to rising incarceration rates include citizen and governmental political ideology, violent and property crime rates, and percent of population that is African American. Habitual violation of laws, including drug crime, and poverty had small effects on the incarceration rate. Additionally, this study found that inequality, not unemployment, was the most salient predictor of incarceration rates; that is, the differential in employment pay rate factored more significantly than the designation of employed/unemployed. The study revealed that such a relationship between income inequality and punishment differentially impacts citizens in general and African Americans in particular. Since excessive use of prisons exacerbates inequality, understanding the link between economic conditions such as income inequality and punishment has notable policy implications.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Chardie Baird / Dana Britton / Racial profiling by the police on the nation’s streets and highways has attracted much attention over the past two decades from scholars, media figures, politicians and police administrators. Several highly publicized cases propelled the issue into national consciousness in the early and mid 1990s, bringing a new public awareness to an undoubtedly old problem. Despite the proliferation of research and political attention, many questions remain unanswered. Among the most common criticisms facing racial profiling research today is the literature's lack of theoretical development. Grounded in focal concerns theory and the concept of symbolic assailants, the present research draws upon both crime control and discriminatory frameworks of racial disparity in traffic stop outcomes. The findings suggest that, while police concerns of crime and safety diminish the effect of race/ethnicity and gender on stop outcomes, race and gender remain important predictors of police decisions. The implications are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / L. Susan Williams / A major public concern is what to do with sex offenders. This seven-year study utilizes first-hand accounts from sex offenders who pursue children, exploring recruitment methods – that is, how they find and gain access to victims. Much public perception about sex offender recruitment is based on well-publicized cases such as that of Polly Klaas, Megan Kanka, and Jaycee Dugard – young girls who were abducted and, in the case of Klaas and Kanka, murdered, by strangers. Legislative efforts responded with laws such as “three strikes” and sex offender registries. Scientific studies have found such laws to be ineffective, yet heightened media exposure persists, perception of “stranger danger” prevails, and untried legislative initiatives continue. The most recent is “buffer zone” laws that limit where sex offenders live. To better inform perception and policy, this study investigates two samples of sex offenders concerning child recruitment. The first sample targeted a general population of sex offenders in state custody with a determinate sentence. The second focused on a population of sexually violent predators (SVP), as defined by Kansas law, constituting repeat offenders with a long history of sex offenses and/or those deemed legislatively as unfit for release into the community. The bulk of data came through interviews addressing activities that surrounded the offense(s), details of child recruitment, and, pertaining to the SVP sample, how offending corresponded with certain life events. Theoretically, the study is informed by Routine Activities Theory (RAT) and Life-Course Theory (LCT). RAT is based on a rational choice perspective of motivation and opportunity – an individualistic approach – while LCT sees offending episodes as strongly influenced by structural position. These two seemingly divergent theories represent a unique framework referred to here as conditioned activities, demonstrating how routine activities are altered by certain life events, or turning points, which, in turn, influence persistence or desistence in offending. It was discovered that child victim recruitment varies across the life course, specifically tied to changes in the offender’s social position. Age of the offender interacts with both position and life events.

This dissertation develops insights into subsistence related decision-making from the perspective of homeless and street involved young people themselves through 39 in-depth and life story interviews. The interviews provide insight into two important and underexplored questions: how the social organization of street spaces shapes street life and subsistence; and how the self is implicated in subsistence related decision-making. To address these questions the analysis develops a conceptual model based on field theory (Bourdieu 1984; Green 2008; Martin 2003) that conceptualizes “the street” as a collection of interlocking subfields—unique social terrains structured at the intersection of various social forces that position actors relative to one another and that orient actors towards particular approaches to street life. The core concepts of field theory—field, capital, and habitus—provide insight into how the unique social spaces of homelessness distribute resources, stratify actors, and provide discourses that frame practice. The analysis demonstrates the strength of this approach through case studies of three such subfields in Toronto. Further, the analysis extends the field framework, and contributes to research on the role of the self in street life, by examining how narratives influence the navigation of street spaces. Actors use narratives to make sense of their circumstances and to invest lines of action with a sense of personal meaning. This narrative perspective is integrated with a dual process approach to action (Vaisey 2009) that states that action is influenced by internalized dispositions formed through experience and upbringing (habitus), as well as through available cultural resources that underwrite and legitimize courses of practice. I extend this approach by considering how these two processes interact within narratives, and how the resulting interplay shapes how the homeless navigate the social spaces of homelessness.

This research provides a local case study of responses to ‘gender’ and ‘diversity’ within Canada’s federal parole system. I examine the following questions: How are certain ‘differences’ and categories of offenders constituted as targets for ‘accommodation’ or as having ‘special needs’? How do penal institutions frame ‘culturally relevant’ or ‘gender responsive’ policy and, in doing so, use normative ideals and selective knowledge of gender, race, culture, ethnicity, and other social relations to constitute the identities of particular groups of offenders? I explore these questions by tracing the history of policy discussions about gender and facets of diversity within legislation and penal and parole policies and practices, as well as the current approaches to managing difference used by the National Parole Board (NPB). Specific focus is given to the organizational responses and approaches developed for Aboriginal, female, and ‘ethnocultural’ offenders. In this study, I show that the incorporation of diversity into the federal parole system works to address a variety of organizational objectives and interests, including fulfilling the legislative mandate to recognize and respond to diversity; appealing to human rights ideals and notions of fairness; managing reputational risk and conforming to managerial logics; instituting ‘effective’ correctional practice; and addressing issues of representation. At the same time, the recognition of gender and diversity produces new penal subjectivities, discourses, and sites upon which to govern. I argue that the accommodation of gender and diversity provides a narrative of conditional release and an institutional framework that positions the NPB as responsive to the diverse needs and/or experiences of non-white and non-male offenders. In the Canadian context, the penal system strives to deliver ‘fair’ punishment through the selective inclusion of difference, and without altering or reconsidering fundamental structures, practices, and power arrangements. Diversity and difference are instead added onto and/or incorporated into preexisting penal policy and logics, including risk management and managerialism.

This dissertation develops insights into subsistence related decision-making from the perspective of homeless and street involved young people themselves through 39 in-depth and life story interviews. The interviews provide insight into two important and underexplored questions: how the social organization of street spaces shapes street life and subsistence; and how the self is implicated in subsistence related decision-making. To address these questions the analysis develops a conceptual model based on field theory (Bourdieu 1984; Green 2008; Martin 2003) that conceptualizes “the street” as a collection of interlocking subfields—unique social terrains structured at the intersection of various social forces that position actors relative to one another and that orient actors towards particular approaches to street life. The core concepts of field theory—field, capital, and habitus—provide insight into how the unique social spaces of homelessness distribute resources, stratify actors, and provide discourses that frame practice. The analysis demonstrates the strength of this approach through case studies of three such subfields in Toronto. Further, the analysis extends the field framework, and contributes to research on the role of the self in street life, by examining how narratives influence the navigation of street spaces. Actors use narratives to make sense of their circumstances and to invest lines of action with a sense of personal meaning. This narrative perspective is integrated with a dual process approach to action (Vaisey 2009) that states that action is influenced by internalized dispositions formed through experience and upbringing (habitus), as well as through available cultural resources that underwrite and legitimize courses of practice. I extend this approach by considering how these two processes interact within narratives, and how the resulting interplay shapes how the homeless navigate the social spaces of homelessness.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / L. Susan Williams / Law enforcement is widely regarded as one of the most stressful and violent professions. Officer stress is associated with a number of negative behaviors and psychological outcomes including high rates of substance abuse, divorce, and violence. Concerns over officer violence include both work-related acts, like use of excessive force or unwarranted deadly force, and non-work related violence such as domestic abuse. Despite interest in the interplay between subcultural attitudes, organizational structure, and high stress events, most research on police violence fails to address a fundamental concern--that of gender. In fact, the majority of research addressing officer stress fails to mention gender or concentrates on gender as a simple control variable. In order to examine how gender, stress, and law enforcement structures predict violent behavior among police officers, this dissertation utilizes both existing data and direct officer interviews. Findings show that law enforcement remains largely a masculine enterprise, and that gender drives images, interaction, and organizational behavior, often at the expense of both men and women officers. Stress, burnout, and use of violence by officers are not simply a response to high stress events, but are embedded in the gender structure and process of policing.