PREVENTION OF CRIME INSTITUTE LAUNCHED

Research Facility Aims To Thwart Criminality

A new research venture that will receive $1.6 million in federal
funding was launched by the University of Ottawa yesterday, aimed at
fighting crime by preventing it from happening in the first place.

The Institute for the Prevention of Crime is the first of its kind in
Canada, and will identify the causes of crime and feed that research
to policy-makers. The institute will operate out of the department of
criminology at the University of Ottawa.

"No one seriously thinks it's a great idea to wait until someone gets
cancer and then treat them extensively in hospital," said criminology
professor Irvin Waller, who is director of the institute. "We know
some of the risk factors linked to cancer and we know that if we
detect those early, we can prevent it. This works the same way. We
know an awful lot about people who get seriously involved with crime,
and a better way to deal with that is to invest early, before things get bad."

Mr. Waller said the criminal justice system has been equipped to
focus on offenders, and more attention must be paid to those who have
the potential to become criminals. The institute is anchored by three
professors and two other researchers, but includes a network of crime
prevention experts from 13 Canadian cities.

"We think there is a huge amount of information out there that will
allow us to make better investments with limited resources around
crime and justice," Mr. Waller said. "The institute will make that
knowledge more easily accessible."

Research will be available to the public, but will primarily target
policy and decision-makers as well as key government administrators,
through workshops and publications.

Melanie Bania, a PhD candidate in the criminology department, has
seen how early prevention can help young people steer away from a
life of crime.

She cites a 1999 partnership between Ottawa police and community
agencies and businesses that targeted children from ages six to 12 in
two social housing complexes in the city. As children were involved
in skills training, a sports and recreation program, a homework club,
and counselling, both housing complexes experienced a drop in police
calls. One complex experienced a 50-per-cent drop in the first
year-and-a-half of the program. Funding for the program ran out in 2003.

Ms. Bania said such programs need stable funding so that crime
prevention can be a constant in all communities.

"People need to pay attention to prevention ... so that communities
aren't left high and dry once funding runs out," she said. "We need
to help policy-makers make decisions based on evidence, based on what
we know works."