May 16, 2006
Kamloops Daily News


I have a plan that will reduce violent crime: Do nothing.

Let me explain. Crime in Canada is dropping according to
Statistics Canada. In the last decade violent crime due to
homicide, attempted murder, assault, sexual assault,
abduction and robbery has dropped by 10 per cent.

If the past is any indicator of the future, we are on the
right course and we should keep doing what we have been
doing.

Various groups will claim credit for this reduction in
crime. Advocates for gun control will claim that the gun
registry is responsible. Others will attribute the
improvement to sentencing which involves restitution to the
community rather than jail time.

Prime Minister Harper's plan is to build more prisons in
response to the perception that crime is rampant.

It's true that Canadians have an uneasy feeling about crime.
They can't quite put their finger on this vague anxiety.
They think they are not as safe as they once were.
Keith Neuman from the polling company Environics Research
Group is well aware of this mood.

The perception of more violence "stems from the tendency to
view our past as somehow being a safer and more gentle
world. But if one digs deeper into this question a very
different pattern emerges," explains Neuman.

Canadians give contradictory opinions about crime. When
asked specific questions, Canadians say that they feel safer
than ever. Canadians report low criminal rates and
victimization from criminal acts which closely mirror
statistics. They seem to realize that crime hasn't been
this low since 1976.

When polled, only one in six Canadians describe
neighbourhood crime as serious - - the lowest level recorded
in more than 25 years. Crime is slightly higher in urban
centres but still significantly low. "Canadians really
don't think that violence is increasing, despite the vaguely
uneasy feeling," says Neuman.

Then why do Canadians still feel uneasy at a time when crime
is decreasing? Television is a definite factor. Professor
George Gerbner of the University of Pennsylvania has studied
the influence of TV. He has studied the influence and is the
author of several books on the subject.

Heavy viewers of television are more likely than comparable
groups to overestimate their chances of involvement in
violence; to believe that one's neighborhood is unsafe; to
state that fear of crime is a very serious personal problem;
and to assume that crime is rising regardless of the facts
of the case.

"Heavy TV viewers in all demographics express a greater
sense of apprehension than do light viewers in the same
groups," says Gerbner. TV viewers are also more likely to
have bought new locks, watchdogs, and guns "for protection."

Violence sells TV programs because of its universal message.
TV producers don't necessarily set out to make violent
programs but economics demand it.

Here's how it works. With the high cost of production of
TV, mass marketing is the only way to make a profit.

Mass marketing requires stories that anyone in the world can
understand. The most easily understood stories are the ones
with lots of action. "Global marketing needs a dramatic
ingredient that requires no translation, 'speaks' action in
any language, and fits into a conventional pattern in many
cultures. That ingredient is violence," says Gerbner.

"Everyone understands an action movie," says one producer,
"If I tell a joke, you may not get it, but if a bullet goes
through the window, we all know how to hit the floor, no
matter what the language."

Dramas like Law and Order, CSI, and NYPD Blue leave viewers
expecting to find a body no matter what corner they turn.
Police and victims are depicted as having to battle against
a mountainous number of unfair technicalities and uncaring
defense attorneys.

In shows like The Practice, lawyers from an expensive
private law firm take on the cases of indigent defendants,
getting them acquitted from all sorts of charges even though
the lawyers, clients and viewing audience all know the
person is guilty.

Harper's plan to arrest more people and put them in jails
responds to the imagined fears of Canadians. It's good
politics but poor government.

An estimated 20 per cent of prison inmates are mentally ill.
Poor and native Canadians represent a disproportional amount
of prisoners. It's hard to imagine how justice will be
served by imprisoning even more citizens who are ill, poor
and least able to defend themselves in court, TV notwithstanding.


David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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