WDW151H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Squeegee Man, Moral Authority
12 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Why do people obey laws?
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Laws have moral authority
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Belief that laws are legitimate (Weber's "voluntary compliance")
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Belief that laws provide a social benefit
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Smoking --> people smoke less and less
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Express information that then causes us to modify our behaviour
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Has actually been declining, but Canadians believe crime is either stable or increasing
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2011 study: crime rate in neighbourhood, majority of people thought that Toronto's crime rate is
much lower than Western Canada
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Politicians need to respond to crime --> people are fearful
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Crime
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$$
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Increase police numbers: more police = less crime
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Capture more criminals
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Enable quick reporting
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Rapid response: the faster the response to incidents, the less crime
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Orderly
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Sense of order
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Broken windows: signs of neighbourhood disorder erode social order and invite criminal activity (ie
abandoned cars, graffiti, squeegee kids)
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Zero tolerance: crackdowns on minor offences lead to a reduction in more serious offences
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Hot spots (targeted patrol) : focus on high crime areas at times when crimes are most likely to be
committed
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Guns and gangs: focus resources on fighting back against gangs to show community and police
commitment to solving the problem
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Punitive/strict laws: mandator minimum sentences, repeat offender laws (3 strikes)
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Get Tough Approaches to Crime
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Going down
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Crime rate
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Number of prison sentences per crimes committed
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Deterred if thought government was cracking down
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Likelihood of being caught and likelihood of going to jail/prison
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Public policy
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If everyone is staying for 15 years, higher incarceration rates
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Length of prison sentence
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Public policy problem not crime problem
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What drives incarceration rates?
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High is the U.S.
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Reoffending rates
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Norwegians measure success on recidivism rate --> unlikely to reoffend
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Recidivism
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Really punitive system is expensive
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Chose to release a lot of inmates
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Costs California 50k per year per inmate
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Expenditures
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Lecture 1.9: Coping with Crime II
November 16, 2016
10:00 AM
LECTURE Page 1
