NCJ Number
225480
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 50 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2008 Pages: 523-557
Date Published
October 2008
Length
35 pages
Annotation
The purpose of this study was to examine the possible contribution of the Canadian urban context to the problem of Aboriginal overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.
Abstract
The results in this study support a number of conclusions. First, it was found that Aboriginal people are highly overrepresented as offenders in police-reported crime data from Winnipeg. Second, the results support the contention of La Prairie (2002) and others that Aboriginal people are more likely to live in communities characterized by social disorganization and social disadvantage. Third, in confirmation of other studies of the distribution of crime and disadvantage in North American cities, the results show a strong association between indictors of social disorganizations and neighborhood crime rates. Fourth, it was found that living conditions in these neighborhoods, characterized by high levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and residential mobility, contributed to Aboriginal overrepresentation as identified offenders in police-reported crime. Lastly, evidence was found to suggest that this relationship might be attenuated when the size of the Aboriginal population reaches the highest levels. The result confirms La Prairie’s suggestion that the structural conditions of cities contribute to Aboriginal overrepresentation among identified offenders in the criminal justice system. In recent decades, the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people as offenders in the Canadian criminal justice system has been well documented in numerous studies. This article addresses Carol La Prairie’s (1992 and 2002) hypothesis that the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the Canadian criminal justice system is, to a considerable extent, due to their disadvantaged urban living conditions. It specifically investigates the sources of the high level of police-reported Aboriginal crime in Winnipeg in 2001. Tables and references