An up-close lesson on the root causes of crime By: Editorial Posted: 2:41 PM CST Friday, Jan. 13, 2023 Last Modified: 9:18 AM CST Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023 Updates

Opinion

Too often, the root causes of crime are absent from conversations about its prevention. By focusing on enforcement and ignoring systemic issues, policy-makers have perpetuated a ballooning police budget and a justice system void of rehabilitation.

Earlier this month, the Free Press published a series of conversations with men and women who have had extensive interactions with the criminal justice system. The goal was to learn about their lives, the circumstances that led them to engage in criminal activity and the things that helped them break the cycle.

These kinds of first-person perspectives offer much-needed context for why crimes are committed and what prevention actually looks like.

When the public only hears about crime through the lens of police reports, causation becomes skewed by the salacious details of the event. Offenders are dehumanized, and the crime is seen as the beginning and end of the story. There’s no place for cause and effect in a statement of fact about a burglary.

When asked about the most important things we as a community, city and province can do to reduce crime, none of the article’s subjects called for increased policing… They pointed to kindness. They pointed to empathy.

When asked about the most important things we as a community, city and province can do to reduce crime, none of the article’s subjects called for increased policing. They pointed to more drug rehabilitation programs, more mental-health supports, more restorative justice, more grassroots community resource centres, more help for the homeless, more after-school and cultural programming for youth. They pointed to kindness. They pointed to empathy.

“Give them a chance,” said Jeremy Raven, who recently celebrated three years out of jail. “Sometimes it’s not that people want handouts; sometimes they just need a hand up.”

If these stories tell us anything, it’s that Winnipeg can’t rely on police to prevent crime — the system simply wasn’t designed for that. Policing and incarceration are, by their very nature, reactionary institutions. They spring into action when a crime is committed and have no recourse for dealing with complex issues, such as intergenerational trauma.

Yes, there are rehabilitation and re-entry programs that exist within the penal system, but not in every facility and not for every inmate.

Most of the people interviewed in the Free Press article described growing up in poverty, being subjected to abuse and being introduced early to drugs and alcohol. Several were raised by people who experienced the same things in childhood.

“There’s definitely trauma,” said Josephine Harper, when asked what she wished people in Winnipeg knew about people with criminal records. “It’s pretty much, ‘This happened to me, so that’s how I’m going to live.’”

For many, including Ms. Harper, the things that helped most in breaking the cycle were community connections and interpersonal supports — in other words being seen and treated as a human being, rather than just as a criminal.

And still, local politicians remain inclined to promote policing as a way to reduce crime.

Last November, Premier Heather Stefanson and newly elected Mayor Scott Gillingham jointly announced a $3 million investment to help the Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP better monitor and target high-risk repeat offenders. Mr. Gillingham described the move as a form of crime prevention aimed at making Winnipeg safer. There was no mention of rehabilitation for said repeat offenders.

History, and the perspectives of those who shared their stories with the Free Press, suggests such an attitude is unsustainable. Until policy-makers are able to recognize crime doesn’t happen in a vacuum, crime rates in Winnipeg and Manitoba will continue to rise.

To effect real change, a commitment of resources is needed to reduce poverty, address addiction and heal trauma.

A helping hand will produce results a strong arm cannot.