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Making crime count : a study of the institutional production of criminal justice statistics

University of British Columbia

Official statistics provide us with some of our most important insights into crime and the criminal justice system. Sociologists, however, have generally not examined the institutions which produce these statistics. "Making Crime Count" addresses this lacuna through a study of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS), which is Canada's sole source for national criminal justice statistics. To do so it employs a methodological combination of focused interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. The availability of criminal justice statistics has fostered a distinctive approach to the governance of crime and criminal justice. A form of 'actuarial justice' has emerged whereby crime is increasingly understood as a statistical probability rather than a moral failing. At the same time, criminal justice statistics render criminal justice organizations amenable to governmental strategies that aim to manage the system. To examine the means by which the Centre has been able to produce its statistics, I draw from contemporary work in the sociology of science which emphasizes the role of complex knowledge networks in the production of scientific facts. Within the Centre's 'knowledge network' assorted elements and institutions must be aligned. We document the ways in which the CCJS is in continual negotiation with the police in order to secure data for the 'uniform crime report' survey. The Centre's controversial 1990 proposal to collect race/crime data is also explored as an example of the power and politics of official classifications. Although the Centre must maintain the appearance of being apolitical, they are occasionally engaged in micro- political negotiations in order to produce their statistics. We document the role that different jurisdictions play in shaping the Centre's knowledge production regime. Once their statistics are collected, there can be negotiations over how they should be publicized. The style of presentation employed by the CCJS is ultimately influenced by organizational constraints, audience considerations and epistemic concerns. The overall results of this research underline the importance for authors writing on 'governmentality' to consider the means through which governmental knowledge is produced.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-06-19

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9472

Anthropology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace