La probation est une sanction qui veut permettre la réhabilitation d'un contrevenant en le surveillant dans la communauté. Cette réhabilitation peut aussi inclure un traitement ou un programme afin d'aider le probationnaire à affronter une nouvelle vie, quelle soit une vie sans drogues, un comportement moins violent ou autre. Donc la probation est une sanction, un traitement est un moyen d'aider le probationnaire. Dans un contexte de traitement, la personne traitée a toujours le choix de suivre ou non le traitement. Un traitement ne peut être administré de force. Cependant, un probationnaire doit suivre les conditions stipulées sur son ordonnance de probation et une de ces conditions peut inclure la participation à un traitement. Donc, le probationnaire a-t-il le choix? Ce travail veut donc étudier le trajet du probationnaire à partir du moment ou il entre en probation au moment où il suit un traitement. Nous voulons étudier comment un probationnaire suit cette condition de traitement et voir si ce traitement qui veut aider le probationnaire lui est imposé. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

À l'intérieur de ce travail intitulé: «La prédiction de la récidive: une analyse de quelques témoignages», nous souhaitions connaître la façon dont les agents de libération conditionnelle parviennent à prédire la récidive ainsi que leurs perceptions personnelles vis-à-vis cette dimension de leur travail. Sont-ils à l'aise d'effectuer cette tâche qui leur est demandée par le SCC, croient-ils posséder les capacités et les ressources nécessaires pour y arriver, ont-ils la certitude que leurs pronostics sont exacts? Dans un premier temps, pour effectuer notre recherche, nous avons consulté plusieurs ouvrages concernant la dangerosité et la prédiction. La partie sur la dangerosité nous a confirmé qu'il n'existe pas de définition précise pour ce terme. Dans un deuxième temps, pour poursuivre ce travail, le choix de la méthodologie s'imposait. Dans un troisième temps, nous avons été en mesure de découvrir des différences et des similitudes dans les propos des agents. Tout d'abord, nous avons pris note, comme l'exprimaient les auteurs dans le chapitre précédent, que les agents eux-mêmes ne possèdent pas de définitions claires et précises de ce qu'est la récidive et la dangerosité. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Dans ce projet de recherche, nous nous sommes intéressés à la rationalité coûts/bénéfices de la théorie de la dissuasion en droit pénal. Notre recherche se présente comme une recherche exploratoire. Nous nous sommes concentrés sur certains actes non conformes aux expectatives normatives du code criminel et jugés graves (meurtre, vol à main armée). Notre matériel empirique est construit à partir d'une série d'entretiens de type qualitatif avec mise en rétrospection. Nous avons cherché à identifier dans le discours de l'acteur le rôle qu'il accordait à la peine dans l'événementiel de son passage à l'acte. L'étude de ces histoires de vie suggère une série de rationalités comportementales qui ne sont pas prise en compte par la théorie de la dissuasion, des rationalités qui ne se caractérisent pas par un calcul rationnel coûts/bénéfices. Par conséquent, dans notre recherche, c'est la rationalité même de la théorie de la dissuasion qui est remise en cause. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Public attitudes toward sentencing are complex. However, it is important to understand what the public's ideas are about the types of sentences that should be given to offenders. The aim of the present study was to empirically examine public attitudes toward sentencing in Canada. In particular, the public's sentencing preferences for offenders were investigated using the specific crime scenario method of questioning. The overall purpose was to determine which particular factors are related to, or predict, public sentencing preferences. The data for the present study were from the 1999 General Social Survey (GSS) administered by Statistics Canada. For the first time in 1999, the GSS sought to examine public attitudes toward sentencing. The public's sentencing preferences for offenders were investigated through the use of scenario-type questions. Respondents were presented with a hypothetical situation for which they were asked to choose "prison" or "non-prison". A total of 25, 876 people were interviewed for this survey. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

La presente ?tude aborde la question controversee des relations police/mass-medias et du rapport que ces deux institutions peuvent entretenir vis-a-vis le "traitement" de certains evenements, ceux-ci se voyant regulierement attribuer une connotation "criminelle". Plus exactement, nous nous sommes interesses au cas de la Promenade du Portage de la ville de Hull, secteur qui fut la scene d'un climat de tensions recurrentes pendant les annees '85' a '95'. C'est principalement cette problematique ou ce litige qui viendra jeter les fondements meme de notre etude. Non seulement essaierons-nous de comprendre les facteurs a l'origine des problemes (le 'criminalite' vecus sur la Promenade du Portage, nous etudierons aussi la facon par laquelle ces memes problemes etaient representes via les divers medias d'information. Plus exactement, nous tenterons, a l'aide d'une approche constructiviste, de determiner comment, niais surtout pourquoi la police et les mass-medias hullois, a travers leur interrelation, en sont arrives a la re-construction "d'evenements". Il sera egalement interessant de soulever les consequences que peut susciter une telle problematique sur les activites policieres et mediatiques, mais aussi a travers "l'opinion publique". (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis proposes that the systemic differential treatment of aboriginal and racial minority peoples in the criminal justice system is at least partly attributed to police racism. Discrimination, which refers to the negative treatment toward out-groups (Elliot and Fleras, 1992:330), is systemic in policing and not isolated to racial minorities. The lower class and others considered deviant are also routinely discriminated against. However, the visibility of racial minorities and aboriginal peoples makes them particularly susceptible to police actions. Because the role of policing necessitates the identification of not only criminals but also potential criminals, this identification must have visible characteristics, or cues. Consequently, the police officer comes to develop these visible characteristics to identify criminals. It is thus the visibility of racial minorities which results in their being categorized as criminal and subsequently the focus of police suspicion. Chapter one reviews the literature in other democratic countries to determine the role of police decision-making in the over-representation of aboriginals and racial minorities in the criminal justice system. Establishing the over-representation of aboriginal peoples and visible minorities in Canada, chapter two examines various explanations for this. Chapter three presents the allegations of police racism by visible minority and aboriginal peoples. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis discusses the peacemaking potential of Native justice initiatives within the context of Canadian criminal justice. Like peacemaking which rose as a revitalization of peace and non-violence within criminology and its concerns, Native justice initiatives can be viewed as a revitalization movement which has risen in response to the injustice of the criminal process for Native people. By offering alternatives to criminal justice or healing approaches within the structure of the conventional criminal process, Native justice initiatives seek to provide healing and restoration and a meaningful delivery of justice to Native people in conflict with the law. The peacemaking potential of such alternatives lies in the observation that the current euro-based structure of criminal justice is foreign to the traditional spiritual and social understanding of Native people. The tragic consequence of this incompatibility is the overincarceration of Native people and the failure of conventional correctional programming to help them. The offering of a process which is sensitive to the needs of Native people in conflict with the law is a move toward peace and social justice within the Canadian criminal justice system which provides an illustration of how Peacemaking may be achieved. This thesis proposes that Native Justice Initiatives facilitate a healing process between Native people and the criminal justice process and do not represent a full restoration to health. Deep healing for Native people in conflict with the law will require an ongoing process of understanding and accommodation both within the realm of criminal justice and society in general. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Cette these porte sur un type d'illegalismes qui, malgre son analogie frappante avec les situations conflictuelles saisies exclusivement par l'appareil penal, profite d'un reseau d'appareils de controle etendu et de modes de reglement de conflits varies, soit les atteintes contre l'environnement. En effet, lors d'atteintes contre l'environnement, il est souvent question d'importants dommages pecuniaires et d'atteintes a la vie. Pourtant, contrairement aux illegalismes traditionnels qui sont exclusivement referes au penal, les atteintes contre l'environnement sont pluridimensionnelles, c'est-a-dire qu'elles peuvent etre apprehendees a la lumiere des champs normatifs penal, civil et administratif. Ainsi, les atteintes contre l'environnement peuvent faire l'objet d'un large eventail de modes de reglement de conflits tels des ententes a l'amiable, des avertissements, des amendes statutaires, des peines d'emprisonnement, etc.. Notre recherche, de type qualitatif, a pour objet d'etude l'anlyse du processus de mise en application des lois et reglements en matiere environnementale au Quebec. Vu les particularites de ce type d'illegalisme, nous avons aborde les atteintes contre l'environnement, dans cette these, non pas comme des crimes au meme titre que les autres illegalismes, mais comme des illegalismes privilegies, tels que definit par Acosta (1988). Le concept d'illegalisme privilegie nous a procure une approche globale qui nous a permis d'apprecier la multiplicite des formes de reglement de conflits et la complexite des rapports qui s'etablissent entre les divers champs normatifs en presence dans les cas d'atteintes a l'environnement. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Immigration officers are agents of social control. They are similar to police, parole board members and many other types of criminal justice personnel in that they attempt to ascertain the dangerousness of those involved in committing criminal offences and subsequently make decisions regarding their fate. When immigration officers encounter these individuals they must decide either to allow them into Canada or refuse them entry. The labelling perspective of deviance suggests that agents of social control, as one component of the societal reaction to deviance, may play a significant role in the process of an individual becoming deviant. Studying decision-making of immigration officers may add to our understanding of why certain types of individuals are disproportionately labelled as deviant. The literature on control agents' decision-making indicates that decisions of a wide range of types of agents of social control are based either on objective or subjective criteria, that interaction as well as variables such as an individual's deference shown to the control agent, and their age, sex, race, type, number and seriousness of offences/convictions affect decision-making. Each of the types of control agents discussed make up strands of the "net" (Cohen, 1985: 56) of social control into which deviants are drawn and all may be engaged to some extent in predicting the dangerousness of deviants. This study wall designed to find out what factors affect immigration officers' decision-making practices with regard to convicted criminals at a port of entry. After securing permission from the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission to conduct the study, I used three methods to answer this question. They were used at a port of entry in Western Canada where I worked during a four month period in 1990. Two were quantitative and the other was qualitative in nature. The first method involved observing officers as a participant in the process and mapping the interior of the port where decisions were made. The second involved examining a sample of 550 immigration files of those who have been convicted of criminal offences to determine significant predictors of the decision by officers to allow these individuals in or refuse them. The third involved constructing a sample of simulated situations (vignettes) that described an individual said to be convicted of a criminal offence attempting to enter Canada. 14 officers responded to 15 of these vignettes each and in each case was asked what their decision would be. These were analyzed to once again determine the factors significantly related to the entry decision. The results of the first method indicated that the physical setting of the port aids officers in separating deviants from those who are "okay." In addition, it indicated that the bureaucratic environment in which decision-making occurs as well as interactions between immigration officers and customs officers, other officers and clients affect decision-making. The results of the second method indicated that working class truck drivers are predominantly being detected at the port as having been convicted of criminal offences. They also indicated that for all those detected the seriousness and number of convictions, the purpose of entry, and previous contact with immigration personnel are important factors affecting decisions to refuse entry. For truck drivers alone, travelling with a co-driver was also found to be important. The results of the third method, which used vignettes that described only non-truck drivers, basically supported the findings of the first method. In addition, it found that the time since the person was convicted and the deference shown to the officer as important factors related to entry decisions, officers in answering an item included in the questionnaire made up of vignettes suggested that they perceive their decision-making as predicting the dangerousness of individuals. None of the three methods indicated that the race of the convicted criminal was an important factor in the decision by officers to refuse entry. The results indicate, first of all, that immigration officers are similar to other agents of social control. This is seen in, among other things, the fact that as a group both view the seriousness of the offence committed by deviants as an important factor in making decisions regarding their lives and both are engaged in predicting the dangerousness of deviants. This suggests that immigration officers represent one more strand in the "net" of social control and one that has heretofore been invisible.

Employee theft costs North American business $40 to $200 billion per annum. Moreover, 10 to 30 percent of all U.S. bankruptcies are a direct result of employee theft. In addition, employee involvement in theft at the workplace has been shown to range between 30 to 90 percent. A review of the literature demonstrates that the variables related to social control (ie., formal, informal), job dissatisfaction, opportunity, no fear of detection or a lack of consequences, youth and the ability to rationalize one's behaviour are correlated with the problem of employee theft. A case study was undertaken at one of Canada's Crown Corporations. A select sample of forty workers responded to a questionnaire regarding participation in employee theft. Eighty-six percent of the sample openly admitted committing one hundred and seventy-five thefts per month. Using a Pearson's correlation, the variables of job dissatisfaction and gender (males committed more theft than females) were associated with employee theft. In addition, rationalizing one's behaviour was found to be an important factor. Finally, pre- and post-employment strategies for controlling the problem of employee theft were discussed.