Rethinking newcomer and minority offending

and victimization: beyond hate crimes …

Metropolis Justice, Policing and Security Seminar: Building an Empirical Evidence

February 25, 2008Ottawa, Ontario

Derek JanhevichMelanie BaniaRoss Hastings

Main structure of the discussion paper …

• Outline current government sponsored efforts – General Social Survey on Victimization; Pilot Survey on police-reported hate crimes and changes to Uniform Crime Reporting Survey; Ethnic Diversity Survey

• Despite these efforts, concept of hate crime still problematic and much of the ‘research’ has been largely descriptive and exploratory

• Need to take a broader stance to understand risk and protective factors

• The case of Toronto – guns, gangs, vulnerable groups and neighbourhoods

What we know and need to know …

Pulling the pieces together – a conceptual approach

EXCLUSION Isolation Detached Pessimism

INCLUSION Integration Attached Optimism

WELL-BEING

DEPRIVATION

Conclusions and Recommendations

• Not all discrimination and racism is hate crime … generalizing may lead to improper policy responses which rely only on criminal justice system …

• A better understanding of the risk, protective, situational and systemic factors– Current understanding is too descriptive and exploratory

– Municipalities, neighbourhoods and communities are not generic; therefore diagnostics need to be more local

• Need to re-think the role of the criminal justice system– CJS not equipped to deal with existing tensions

– More focus on municipally and community driven solutions