Just like in Richard Wilkinson's "Unhealthy societies: The afflictions of
inequality."

Now if reporters could begin to analyze why this might be the case!

Violent crime up 7.5% in Greater Toronto
Young people have highest rate, Statscan says
       Elaine Carey
            DEMOGRAPHICS REPORTER
  Greater Toronto's violent crime rate has risen dramatically for the first time
in seven years and a leading criminologist
  blames the Harris government.

  ``It seems to me inevitable that we would have an increase in violence because
it seems we have policies designed that
  way,'' said Anthony Doob, a criminology professor at the University of
Toronto.

  Violent crime in Toronto rose by 7.5 per cent last year to a rate of 868
incidents per 100,000 population, Statistics
  Canada said in its annual report on crime yesterday. But property crimes,
including theft, break and enter and fraud, fell
  by 6.8 per cent.

  This lead to a 2.1 per cent decline in the over-all crime rate, leaving
Toronto with the fourth lowest rate of all
  metropolitan areas, after Chicoutimi-Jonqui



ère, Quebec city and
Trois-Rivières. Regina had the highest rate, followed
  by Saskatoon.

  Young people aged 15 to 24 have the highest crime rate of any age group.
Across Canada, violent youth offences rose
  by 7 per cent after falling for eight years. They included an 18 per cent rise
in sexual assaults, a 7 per cent increase in
  assaults and a 2 per cent rise in robberies.

  Doob said cuts to welfare and other social programs means problem kids get
less help, which has an affect on violent
  crime.

  ``What we know about crime is that all these things, particularly for kids who
are at risk, are things which in the past
  have helped reduce crime and now they're no longer there,'' he said. ``Why
should we be surprised?''

  The increases are consistent with numbers gathered by Toronto police.

  ``Over-all crime took a little bit of a dive, but the concern for us,
obviously, is that violent crime is up,'' Staff Inspector
  Bruce Smollet said yesterday.

  ``Especially in an area . . . like youth crime. It's a very big concern.
Obviously, we're very glad that crime over-all is
  down slightly, but most policemen are going to tell you that any crime is too
many,'' he said.

  Doob said Ontario's response to kids who get in trouble at schools is all
wrong. ``You kick them out, you punish them,
  rather than trying to make the kids' experience in school more positive so
they don't act out,'' he said.

  ``Schools are being told `get rid of the kid, make that kid somebody else's
problem, have the kid charged,' '' he said.

  ``The question is do you try to keep them in the one institution where you
have an opportunity to do something positive
  or do you say `get out of here.' Well, we have a tendency now to say `get out
of here.' ''

  Teachers have less time to work with individual students who are beginning to
have problems or to spend on things like
  extracurricular activities that kids enjoy, he said.

  ``All of these things make school a less positive experience for kids and we
know that's going to relate to the amount of
  crime the kids who are at risk are doing,'' he said. ``It's not mysterious.''



  With files from Jennifer Quinn


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