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In 1992 the First Nations Policing Program (FNPP) was introduced in order for Indigenous peoples in Canada to establish their own self-administered police services. The intent of the FNPP was for Indigenous communities to work toward self-determination and their residents to receive professional and culturally appropriate policing. Like other criminal justice interventions, there was a disconnection between the vision and the actual operation of these agencies, thus over one-third of these fledgling police services disbanded. Even today, many of these First Nations police services are struggling. Police officials report their agencies were intentionally ‘set up to fail’ and this study critiques that proposition. We find these agencies are hamstrung by a lack of funding, suffer from the disadvantage of size, struggle to meet the demands of high crime and community dysfunction, and are delivering a less culturally-appropriate service today than provided when the program was first established years. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The minority threat proposition posits that the size of minority populations is positively associated with levels of formal social control. Recent research in other nations has shown a clear and consistent relationship between the size of subordinate populations and the number of police as well as increased law enforcement spending. This study examined the relationships, in Canada's largest cities, between six indicators of minority populations and both the ratio of police officers to residents and per capita policing expenditures. Inconsistent with the results of recent US, German and Spanish studies, indicators of population heterogeneity were not significantly associated with police strength or spending. Levels of police-reported violent crime and population density, however, were strongly associated with both measures of police strength. Police strength was also positively associated with cities that had municipal police services, higher unemployment rates, and the percentage of conservative voters in provincial elections. Implications for the development of theories of formal social control are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research suggests that, according to both offenders and criminal justice practitioners, jails and correctional boot camps are viewed and experienced as significantly more punitive than prison. Nevertheless, limited research exists examining the perceptions of the public regarding jail conditions and operations. Using responses from 1,183 Kentucky adults, we examine public opinion regarding the punitiveness of jail when compared to prison. We determine that, with the exception of boot camp, respondents feel that jail is the most punitive noncapital sanction. Additionally, respondents who had been convicted of a felony at some point in their lives and respondents with lower household income indicated that they would serve significantly less time in jail to avoid prison than their counterparts if given the option. Implications for policy and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Funded by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), the Integrated Police–Parole Initiative (IPPI) places police officers in CSC offices, where they support the activities of parole staff. First introduced in 2006–07, these officers work with high-risk offenders in their transition from the penitentiary to community, in order to increase public safety. Analyses of technical violations of conditional releases revealed that sites where these officers were deployed successfully reduced the number of parole violations. These promising results suggest that the IPPI has avoided the ‘community removal’ element of parole supervision that is evident in some North American jurisdictions, and promotes the safe reintegration of offenders into the community. Implications for public safety, as well as law enforcement and correctional partnerships are discussed. Note: these data were originally obtained as part of a CSC analysis of the IPPI, but the opinions expressed within this study do not necessarily reflect those of the CSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study which examined the influence of political repression on the use of punishment in rich nations. Indicators of political freedoms were included in a series of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models, including civil liberties. Results revealed that autocratic nations punish more harshly. Examination of the correlates of the detained population suggested that the factors that contribute to detention may be different from those related to imprisonment.

Understanding the use of punishment becomes increasingly important as imprisonment rates in many nations have fluctuated irrespective of crime rates. Controlling for violent crime, inequality modernization, and economic stress, this research examined three diverse hypotheses about the sources of imprisonment in a sample of 100 nations. Consistent with expectations, nations that retained use of the death penalty had a greater use of imprisonment. More surprising was the finding of a clear and consistent relationship between imprisonment and countries with common law legal systems, as well as newly independent nation-states. Finally, this study reveals a significant — although inconsistent — association between population heterogeneity and imprisonment. While punishment research has often focused upon the relationships between economic variables and imprisonment, these findings suggest that theories of formal social control will remain incomplete until the roles of political, cultural, and structural conditions are fully understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]