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Showing papers by "Government of Canada published in 1976"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Sommaire as discussed by the authors reviewed the past application of social science to crime and delinquency policy in Canada and suggested some alternatives for improving the interface between social science and social policy in the future.
Abstract: . At present in Canada we are facing an era of increasing change, not only of the institutions and systems within our society, but in the values of both individuals and groups in society itself. These changes are perhaps nowhere more apparent than in the increasing crises and problems in the administration of justice in Canada. Given the many impacts of technology, increased communication and urbanization, the future of the society, of crime, and of the administration of justice are extremely uncertain. As discussed in the paper, in responding to this uncertainty those guiding the criminal justice system have a triple responsibility: to the public, to the offenders, and to the staff of the system itself. However, as I suggest, there are some major difficulties in carrying out these responsibilities. The paper then reviews the past application of social science to crime and delinquency policy in Canada. As I suggest, the contribution of social scientific research to the administration of justice has been minimal, probably because of limited resources and a lack of good information and statistics. Even if these problems were not present, there are other important problems facing the application of social science to this policy area in the future. The paper describes problems as the negative result, which seems to dominate social scientific results and does not encourage administrators to return for more advice, since typically the advice is either, we don't know, or the way we have been proceeding is wrong. The paper concludes by suggesting some alternatives for improving the interface between social science and social policy in the future. Sommaire. A l'heure actuelle nous traversons au Canada une ere de changement croissant, non seulement dans les institutions et les systemes au sera de notre societe, mais aussi dans les valeurs fondamentales des individus et des groupes. Ces crises et changements croissants se manifestent peut-etre davantage dans l'administration de la justice que dans toute autre activite au pays. Vu les nombreuses influences de la technologic, des communications accrues et de l'urbanisation, l'avenir de la societe, de la criminalite, et de la justice sont extremement incertains. Les personnes chargees de guider le systeme de justice penale ont, comme en discute mon expose, une triple responsabilite: envers le public, envers les delinquants et envers le personnel du systeme lui-meme. Toutefois, certaines difficultes majeures entravent l'exercice de ces responsabilites. Dans le meme expose, j'examine ensuite l'application des sciences humaines aux politiques concernant la criminalite et la delinquance au Canada. J'ai trouve plutot minime la contribution que la recherche en sciences humaines a apportee a l'administration de la justice, a cause peut-etre de ressources limitees et de manque de bonnes donnees et de statistiques. Meme si les problemes susmentionnes etaient absents, il existe neanmoins d'autres problemes importants que devra surmonter a 1'avenir l'application des sciences humaines aux politiques concernant la criminalite et la delinquance. Les problemes sont decrits dans mon expose comme etant le resultat negatif qui parait caracteriser la recherche en sciences humaines et qui decourage les administrateurs a solliciter d'autres conseils, vu que typiquement ont leur repond: ‘nous ne savons pas’ ou bien ‘la voie suivie jusqu'ici est mauvaise.’ Pour conclure, 1'expose suggere quelques solutions de rechange en vue d'ameliorer a l'avenir la liaison entre les sciences humaines et la politique sociale.

1 citations