|
Cynthia
Janisse assault | Crime Stats
| Income
stats 2003 | Chief
Sabo | Mayor
Maddin | Stonechild
| Immigrants don't
want to live here | Saskatoon
police defend the old way of doing things, resist Chief's attempts
to reform | Mayor Atchison's law and
order agenda | 2005: Pilot
project targetting west side | Too
many cops? |
 Saskatoon top of crime heap
Rod Nickel, with James
Parker files, The StarPhoenix, July 26, 2003
Saskatoon's murder rate tied
for highest among major Canadian cities last year, matching Winnipeg's
rate, according to a report that also identifies Saskatchewan
as the province with the highest crime rate.
With six homicides last year,
the city's murder rate is 3.4 homicides per every 100,000 people.
The murder count is slightly
greater than the city's 10-year average, and the most in the
past four years. Among the deaths were a murder related to sex
charges, a house-party stabbing and the slaying of a sex-trade
worker.
With 1,625 violent incidents
per 100,000 people, according to a report of the Canadian Centre
for Justice Statistics (CCJS) released Thursday, the city also
owns the dubious distinction of being Canada's violent-crime
capital for 2002, despite a one per cent drop in the city's rate
over 2001.
But the troubling rankings
are "absolutely not" an indicator that Saskatoon is
one of the most dangerous cities in Canada, said Acting Insp.
Lorne Constantinoff of Saskatoon Police Service.
The city cops have the second-highest
clearance rate in Canada -- a measurement of how often crimes
result in charges -- Constantinoff said, referring to CCJS data.
"Police are getting the
job done."
Poverty, fed by a lack of education
and employment, and dysfunctional families lead to many of Saskatchewan's
violent crimes, said Katrine McKenzie, director of victim services
for the province. Most attackers are previously linked to their
victims.
"If people are afraid
of crime, they're afraid of a stranger breaking into their house
or coming up to them on the street. In reality, these (people
involved in crimes) are people who know each other."
Violent crime in Saskatoon
is "impulsive" and often motivated by rage fuelled
by alcohol and drugs, Constantinoff said.
He said he doesn't know of
any gang-related murder ever occurring in the city.
Among provinces, Saskatchewan
recorded the highest rate of violent crime for the fourth consecutive
year, the highest crime rate overall, the highest break-in rate
and the second-highest rate of property crime, causing Saskatchewan
Party Leader Elwin Hermanson to suggest youth work camps and
more cops as the solution.
The high rankings come despite
an overall decrease in the province's crime rate. Saskatoon's
crime rate was stable.
"We are encouraged by
the modest reductions in the crime rate we see for 2002, but
we know there is more work to be done," read a statement
issued by Corrections and Public Safety Minister Andrew Thompson.
"We are on the right track."
P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador,
Alberta and New Brunswick reported the largest crime rate increases
last year.
"Saskatchewan is a great
province," Hermanson said. "It shouldn't be the leading
crime-ridden province of Canada. It just doesn't fit our personality.
It just doesn't fit the nature of this province. So, obviously,
there must be something wrong."
Strict discipline camps for
repeat young offenders, following an Ontario model, would give
them needed structure, he said.
"It's far more compassionate
than allowing people to stay in the same environment, to thumb
their nose at the justice system," he said.
Hermanson said the coalition
government should come through on a 1999 NDP promise to hire
200 more police officers. It says to have hired 142.
Saskatoon and Regina posted
the highest break-in rates among cities, although each showed
declines last year. Saskatoon showed the third-highest property
crime rate after Regina and Vancouver.
The good news is Saskatchewan
posted the largest decline in vehicle thefts -- 13 per cent,
as this crime ebbed nationwide. Regina and Winnipeg have the
highest vehicle theft rates despite double-digit drops.
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
Young form bulk of sex
victims
By OLIVER MOORE, Globe
and Mail , Jul. 25, 2003
Well over half of sex assault
victims who report their attacks to police are youths under the
age of 18, a report released Friday by Statistics Canada shows.
The study found that 61 per
cent of reported sexual assaults in Canada involved young people,
and that 85 per cent of such attacks were perpetrated on young
women. These women were targeted at an older age than the boys
who had been attacked. The majority of attacks on girls happened
between the ages of 11 and 19, while attacks on boys were most
prevalent while they were between three and 14.
The report is based on a study
of Uniform Crime Reporting numbers from 2002, which relies on
information from 123 police departments in nine provinces. The
authors used four categories of sexual assault: level one, involving
little or no injury; level two, including the use of a weapon,
threats or causing bodily harm; level three, which results in
wounding, maiming, disfiguring or the endangerment of the victim's
life; and "other."
Overall rates for sexual assault
remained stable from 2001 to 2002, continuing a four-year trend.
Level two and three assaults have dropped overall since 1983,
while level one incidents went up from then until 1993 before
beginning to tail off.
Of the 27,100 attacks that
were reported to police in 2002 - which constitute 1 per cent
of Criminal Code offences - an overwhelming 88 per cent were
classed as level one incidents. Only 2 per cent of cases were
the more serious forms of assault, levels two and three. The
remaining 10 per cent were considered "other."
The StatsCan report found that
sexual assault was most often reported in Saskatchewan (with
160 incidents for every 100,000 people) and Manitoba (139). The
national average was 86 incidents for every 100,000 people -
above the lowest-reporting provinces of Ontario (74) and Quebec
(71). Among large metropolitan areas the rates were highest in
Saskatoon, Regina and Subdury and lowest in Windsor, Quebec,
Toronto and Ottawa.
The actual number of sexual
assaults is impossible to gauge, the authors concede, with some
other surveys suggesting that up to 90 per cent attacks go unreported.
As has been shown before, the
vast majority of sexual-assault victims reported being targeted
by someone they knew. Only 20 per cent were attacked by a stranger,
while 41 per cent fell victim to an acquaintance, 28 per cent
to a family member and 10 per cent to a friend.
The numbers were slightly different
among children of both genders, with 42 per cent overall being
preyed upon by parents or relatives and only 9 per cent falling
victim to strangers. Among female child victims the numbers were
even higher, with 49 per cent falling prey to a family member.
If and when sexual-assault
perpetrators go to court, they are less likely to be found guilty
than those charged with violent offences, but more likely to
go to jail if convicted. Conditional sentences for adult offenders
are rising, though, from 9 per cent of cases five years ago to
17 per cent of cases last year.
Youths convicted of level two
or three sexual assault are more than three times as likely to
be jailed as those guilty of other violent offences.
City leads country in
reported sex assaults
Lana Haight, The StarPhoenix,
with CanWest News Files, July 26, 2003
Saskatoon and Saskatchewan
lead the country for the number of sexual assaults reported to
police, according to a report released Friday by the Canadian
Centre for Justice Statistics.
At 160 incidents for every
100,000 people in 2002, Saskatchewan's rate was almost double
the national provincial average of 86. Saskatoon, with a rate
of 155, ranked No. 1 among Canadian cities.
Interpretations of these numbers
differ.
The head of Sexual Assault
Services of Saskatchewan considers the statistics good news because
they indicate assault victims are taking their complaints to
the police.
"That's awesome. . . .
I look at this as a positive thing," said executive director
Sherri Doell.
She said Saskatoon has a dedicated
group of professionals who help victims through the justice system,
including several doctors who are part of a sexual assault response
team and are available around the clock to examine and treat
victims.
"If you are sexually assaulted
and you get good care at the hospital, you are way more likely
to go through the process," said Doell.
However, Saskatoon police Acting
Insp. Lorne Constantinoff says the higher rates of reporting
may actually indicate higher rates of sexual assaults in the
city and the province. The high proportion of youth in the population
may be the reason.
"The highest offending
age group (for all crimes) is that 15 to 24 group. That age group
in the province of Saskatchewan has been steadily increasing
while that age group nationwide has been decreasing. (That age
group) is responsible for 46 per cent of (all) crimes reported,"
said Constantinoff.
A spokesperson for the provincial
government agrees.
"We know that 15- to 24-year-olds
have a higher rate of offending and victimization. More than
half of the victims of sexual offences reported to police were
children and youth," said Candace Congram with Saskatchewan
Justice.
According to the report, 80
per cent of the victims knew their abusers as friends, acquaintances,
or family members.
National surveys suggest as
many as 90 per cent of sexual assaults are not reported to police.
According to the statistics
provided by 123 police departments in Canada, six out of every
10 victims of sexual offenses were younger than 18. Girls made
up 85 per cent of that total and those between 11 and 19 years
were found to be the most likely victims.
"We're hearing from younger
and younger women who are calling to report behaviors that are
contributing factors to violent relationships and abuse, factors
we used to see more in adults," said Christine Simmons-Physick,
vice-president of child and family services at Kids Help Phone
in Toronto, a non-profit help line for youth.
The statistics also show adolescent
boys, ages 13 and 14, are more likely to commit minor acts of
sexual assaults than any other age group. The report summary,
posted on Statistics Canada's Web site, noted the offences did
"not involve a weapon or injury to the victim."
Constantinoff says there's
not much police can do to prevent this type of crime.
"When you combine all
the social issues surrounding (assaults) alcohol, drugs, frustration
from poverty and so on and so forth, you can see how all this
culminates into a very high crime level. . . . It's much more
of a social issue rather than just the police department,"
said Constantinoff.
Doell agrees it's not just
the police department that must work to reduce sexual assaults,
but she doesn't agree with Constantinoff's assessment of possible
causes.
"Sexual assault doesn't
know race or demographics or socio-economics. It happens in every
segment of society all over the world because it's a power and
control issue," said Doell.
While Saskatchewan has the
highest rate of police-reported sexual offences, the province
is following the trend throughout the country. The rates are
lower than they were in the early 1990s after new sexual assault
legislation was passed by Parliament in 1983.
© Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
