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Abstract
Certified statistics are considered to be the critical source of information and knowledge about crimes and the criminal justice system but little information is served regarding the institutions that provide the statistics. Kevin Haggerty threw some light on the process that is involved in the collecting and collating data on crime activities. This was done was examining the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS), which is the statistical branch of Canada that is responsible for the production of data on the Criminal Justice System.
The book Making Crime Count provides an in-depth analysis on how data on illegal activities have facilitated the characteristic advance to the management of justice in the country. It is taking the form of actuarial justice where crime is considered to be a statistical probability and not a moral failing. Similarly, statistics make the criminal justice to be amenable, particularly to the criminal justice that is served with the purpose of managing the justice system itself.
By utilizing the modern sociological work as a toll frame, Haggerty examined various ways by which CCJS produces its statistics. Emphasis is placed on the scientific factors and the complex networks that are aligned to the assorted elements and institutions through negotiations between the police, employees and the CCJS in order to obtain a comprehensive crime report survey. Haggerty concluded that there is a need to study governance to comprehend the politics and the process of knowledge production of the crime data.
Introduction
Some time back, the CCJS began a process of data collection whereby information was collected regarding the state of a criminal as at the time of committing the crime: it was to be recorded whether or not the victim was under the influence of any drugs. Although the collection of this data was not collected for long, there was enough confidence that the consumption of drugs or alcohol was a factor in crime and that the data was instrumental in the understanding of crime and in the formulation of a constructive public policy.
The collection of this data was stopped following strong opposition form the department of police, which expressed two main reservations namely: that the officers could not believe or reliably ascertain the consumption and also the police could not wish to provide the accused with a potential clue for legal defense emanating from the crime.
The overriding theme in the Haggerty’s book was “truth as a major social accomplishment” and it specifically captured what was believed concerning crime in Canada. Haggerty captured all the social influences that shaped crime statistics and how they could be utilized in formulation of public policy, for social research and for the creation of ameliorative programs to mitigate crimes.
Haggerty was more concerned with the profound aspect than the mere validity of the statistics about crime; he wanted the readers to realize the implications of constructivists approach to the validity and the truth of the crime statistics of the crime and how they were governed.
Main arguments of the book
Making crime count is a well researched case study of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics which is an arm of statistics Canada that is responsible for the production of data regarding particular aspects of the criminal justice system. Much of the literature dwelt on governance. According to Haggerty (2001), the availability and the development of statistics facilitated the distinctive techniques and rationalities of governance that are able to utilize actuarial techniques to manage individuals and the systems.
Among the claims that were postulated by Haggerty (2001) was that the institutions were penetrated by the politics of truth. It was argued that the statistics that were provided by the CCJS were the closest official facts and the CCJS, in their statistics relied on the categorization of people, processes, events, standardizations and the political negotiations. The book was not therefore concerned bout the statistics but more on the social processes that are involved in the construction, legitimization and production of crime statistics (Haggerty, 2001).
Haggerty (2001) based his arguments by studying the Canadian centre for Justice and Statistics (CCJS) which is a federal agency and a statistical arm of Canada. To ascertain his facts, he adopted anthropological method whereby he took up residence for half a year, and he carried out talks with the staff of CCJS and other stakeholders that transacted business with the agency, he managed to read the documents of the agency took part in informal discussions and conversations and observed great deals.
He, for example, accounted for the interplay of beliefs and the special social forces that eventuated in the aboriginals being the main class that is differentiated in the CCJS centers and what effect it had for the Canadian public and the beliefs it had for itself and crime in Canada.
The study and analysis by Haggerty (2001) elicited the interest of the students undertaking studies in various social organizations since it described how the CCJS is well structured to perform its functions. The organization works in close collaboration with other members to assist in the collection of data. In order to function effectively, the CCJS staff has to perform technological, educational, semi-personal and political roles. Haggerty (2001) explained how the CCJS staff engaged the security officers in order to collect information required.
Haggerty’s assertions have cast doubt into contention of the students on the capability of the media that the media is submissive. Haggerty (2001) proposed that the media was more important and independent of CCJS, and he asserted that the media exerted a lot of influence over the agency. The book is a constructionism exercise; his exemplifying of how information about offense is reflected in the media is a perfect show of the constructionist principle that genuineness is a form of communal achievements that is in by Haggerty.
What is not clear in the Haggerty’s work is the extent of achievement of reality as an act of finding. Haggerty held that the crime statistics of Canada is a reflection of the real incidence and that the natures of the criminal acts vary based on certain statistic, and it can be considered to be truth of truths. He pointed out that crime by itself was a social construction and that criminal behavior by itself was a critical determinant of the statistical truths that were produced by the CCJS.
Haggerty, however, forewarned that people ought to be cautious of the soundness of the gathered information on crime, and they should be much apprehensive about fact creation by the nation agencies that govern the people. He portrayed CCJS as an agency that only strived to realize the truth with much rationality.
The closed and the inaccessibility of prisons make it difficult for institutions to be controlled and regulated particularly if the public considered the prisoners as undeserving. The book focused on the issues of privatization or prisons, poverty criminalization, racial discrimination, impact of drugs and war on women and the impact of get-tough approach on women of black color. It has been argued that private organizations that engaged in punishing for profit were very hard to monitor.
Further arguments have proposed that the media, though instrumental in reforming and in ensuring transparency and accountability in prison, were vulnerable to all forms of misrepresentation and favoring the official versions of events. Women, for example, who were released from the prisons, carried a lot of burdens and faced many challenges in their day to day communal life; this was not addressed by the literature on women prisoners since a lot of focus was placed on the women in their prison days and not women after prison.
Conclusion
There is a presumption that the rhetoric of statistics can be thwarted by the truth that can be actualized by the rational use of criminal justice statistics. The previous trend should provide a trend and give a pause as to whether the scale might be shifting. There is still a role for the agencies like the CCJS, and it will provide the data resources that facilitate the rational policy of development.
Official crime statistics provide a deeper understanding into crimes and the functioning of the criminal justice system, and since sociologists have not delved into the institutions that produce the statistics, making crimes count has served to address the problem through the study of the CCJS which is Canada’s main source of criminal justice statistics. Haggerty employed methodological functions of participative observation and documentary analysis. The accessibility of information on crime has enabled a characteristic move toward the learning and the control of crime.
Statistics are often used to map out patterns in behavior and other characters. Such patterns can be studied and significant decisions made. Collection of statistics therefore should be carried out with utmost significance. Statistics are used to make significant decisions and therefore collection of wrong statistics will lead to wrong decision being made. It is of great significance therefore that statistics collection is carried out in a manner that will ensure that only the relevant and unbiased information is collected. This will guarantee correct and relevant decision being made.
References
Haggerty, K. D. (2001). Making crime count. Toronto, Canada: Buffalo.
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