Description:

As Michael Moore has so graphically illustrated in his successful film “Bowling for Columbine,” a deeply ingrained sense of fear can diminish the quality of life within any society. This idea has been explored in a burgeoning field of academic literature on “moral panics” over the last few decades, largely driven by British sociologist Stanley Cohen’s Folk Devils and Moral Panics: the Creation of the Mods and Rockers (1980). No subject is more likely to lead to such panics, and consequently to the level of fear Moore portrays, than youth crime, especially violent crime and particularly, if these youth are of different ethnic, religious or racial backgrounds. In Australia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other countries around the world, much ink has been spilt over youth gangs – this Metropolis Presents panel will tackle this concern head-on.

True to the goal of the overall Metropolis Project, this panel will bring research findings to bear on areas that are frequently explored only through ideology and emotion. It will bring experts together to discuss the relationship between violent crime and immigrant and minority youth. Based on their research, panellists will explore the involvement of youth in violent crime in Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. They will tackle the public perception that this activity is organized and structured within gangs that are themselves shaped by their members’ immigrant and/or minority status. Finally, panellists will tackle interdiction strategies that communities and governments can and/or have attempted to diminish the involvement of youth in criminal activity. This will also, to some extent, entail an examination of systemic or environmental factors that may propagate criminal activity.

Sponsored by:
Multiculturalism Program, Canadian Heritage
Strategic Research and Analysis, Canadian Heritage
Policing and Law Enforcement Branch,
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada

Biographies

Jock Collins is a professor at the School of Finance and Economics at the University of Technology, Sydney (Kuring-gai campus). Jock is the author of two books and over 40 articles in international and national journals and edited books, including Kebabs, Kids, Cops and Crime: Youth Ethnicity and Crime (2000). Jock has been a consultant to the NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the NSW Department of Treasury. He often comments on immigration matters in the media in Australia.

Scott H. Decker is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the Uiversity of Missouri-St. Louis. His research focuses on criminology, youth crime, youth gangs, crime control policy and the offender's perspective. His recent books include From the Street to the Prison: Understanding and Responding to Gangs (2001), (with David G. Curry) Confronting Gangs: Crime and Community (1998), (with Barrik Van Winkle) Life in the Gang: Family, Friends and Violence (1996).

Simon Holdaway is a professor of criminology and sociology and Director of the Sheffield University Centre for Criminological Research. He served as a police officer for over a decade before joining the sociology department of Sheffield University. His books include Inside the British Police: A Force at Work (1983), Recruiting a Multi-Racial Police (1991), The Racialisation of British Policing (1996), and Resignation: The Experience of Black and Asian Police Officers (1997). His current research is a project about Black Police Associations in the UK and an evaluation of the Street Crime Initiaive in South Yorkshire.

Alex Tyakoff is a senior tactical analyst with the Proceeds of Crime Team, Organized Crime Agency of British Columbia. He was previously employed as a senior researcher with the Police Services Division, Solicitor-General (BC) where he prepared a number of research studies and policy briefs on organized crime control, including a comprehensive review of the organized crime problem in BC. He has also worked as a strategic intelligence analyst with the Coordinated Law Enforcement Agency in Vancouver, specifically in the area of anti-smuggling and organized crime control. He has prepared studies on organized crime in BC, in particular Russian and Eastern European based Organized Crime and Japanese based Organized Crime. Most recently he has completed a study for the Department of Canadian Heritage entitled "South-Asian Based Group Crime in British Columbia (1993-2003)".

Scot Wortley is a professor of criminology at the University of Toronto. He has a range of studies underway involving minority and immigrant interactions with the justice system, including a study sponsored by Solicitor General Canada focusing on the nature and extent of youth gang activity in Toronto. He has recently published in the American Journal of Sociology, Law and Society Review, the Canadian Journal of Criminology, the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, the British Journal of Criminology, Criminal Justice, Sociological Perspectives and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol