Crime Study

I just finished running the numbers with the new crime data in Winnipeg. What isn't surprising is that the numbers haven't really changed all that much - we seem to have roughly the same distribution of crime by location, demographics, etc. What is surprising is that these numbers have been the same for years - and that the socio-disadvantage indicators are still the same - with nearly the same weightings over time.

I think that makes sense... if not - the same makeup of people are committing the same crimes now as they have been for years. It's surprising to me because this seemed rather obvious to me - and if it's obvious to me, it's probably second nature to most. Why then do we still have such high crime rates? If we know the makeup of the criminals - it should be fairly easy to curb the problem, shouldn't it?

Before I get jumped on by the race police - I'm not saying that because of a certain group's penchant for committing crimes (or those getting caught AND prosecuted) we should lock 'em up or stick them in the bush somewhere... no. I'm saying that those areas in the city with the common disadvantage characteristics (low employment, poor education, high drug use, etc) also have higher than normal crime and conviction rates.

Our decision to not increase support to education or job creation programs means that crime is an acceptable outcome for us and that imprisonment of people who commit these crimes (and they do so not entirely of their own decision) is also acceptable.

Why is this so? We know that a life partly spent in prison leads to further disadvantages in life. We know that committing a crime is not simply a question of individual morals. We know that the same people are going to prison again and again. How is this fair? How is it fair to condemn one group of people to a shitty life while we enjoy other programming that we enjoy - but don't necessarily need.

I'm not going to evaluate individual spending mechanisms here - but by spending money on re-paving streets so that motorists can enjoy a smooth ride into work is a more important expenditure than targeting spending to reduce crime further. Whether this is right or wrong is beyond me - but the nature that our governments - the extension of us - make those decisions means that crime and committing more people to a horrible life is less important than a smooth ride in.

Shouldn't we, as a community, want everyone in the community to do well? Shouldn't we want everyone to achieve a minimum level of happinness?

It's bothersome to me, even though the chamber of commerce has the rights to my findings - and even though I'm preparing this study for them - what are they going to do about it? They have to protest the interests of their members first - and I don't think their membership would take kindly to policy suggestions of increasing gas tax to offset increased road repairs costs so that money could be freed up to help a silent community in trouble... We tend to push the concerns of a large group of people aside to maintain our (unnecessary) comforts.

I'm saying this because I'm re-evaluating what I want to do after I finish my undergrad. Do I stick around Winnipeg and work on local community development initiatives, or do I go overseas where the need is greater? Do we really have it that bad? Is that an excuse? Is it a better plan to clean up my own backyard before helping out a neighbour or just go where the work is the most pressing? Fun times for Sean... fun times!