SOC 2760 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Public Knowledge, Homicide

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2760
• Professor: Rob Shearer

Document Summary

The last unit focused on police investigations of homicide, while this one focuses on the criminal justice environment in which the decision is made as to whether the person is guilty or innocent. We will examine patterns in the types of dispositions and sentences handed down in homicide cases, and the roles played by gender, age, victim-offender relationship, etc. Worldwide, for every 100 homicide victims, 43 people are convicted of homicide: conviction rate of 24 in the americas, 48 in asia, and 81 in europe. There is some canadian research that monitors cases through the criminal justice process over a number of years, so we can analyze canada-specific patterns. Professor dawson"s ontario homicide & justice initiative is one of the only individual- level homicide datasets that spans a significant period of time (40 years) The death penalty is not an option in canadian courts, so that will not be discussed in this article.