{"id":95766,"date":"2025-05-01T13:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T17:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=95766"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:36:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:36:58","slug":"reduce-violent-crime-canada","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/reduce-violent-crime-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"How Can Mark Carney Reduce Violent Crime in Canada? Through Prevention and Youth Outreach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n\n \n \n \n \n
\n\n
<\/div>\n \n
\n
\n\n

\n How Can Mark Carney Reduce Violent Crime in Canada? Through Prevention and Youth Outreach\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

This article is republished<\/a> from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. All photos provided by The Conversation<\/a> from various sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeffrey Bradley<\/a> is a PhD Candidate in legal studies at Carleton University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney and the governing federal Liberals must work to reverse the trends in rising violent crime. Canada needs a federal minister with clear responsibility for the prevention of violent crime, supported by a deputy minister with no other responsibilities than stopping violence before it happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evidence and successes in other countries suggest this approach could reduce violent and serious crime by 50 per cent in the next five years<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian homicide rates<\/a> have increased by 50 per cent in the past 10 years, returning to levels from the early 2000s. Black and Indigenous Canadians<\/a> are victimized at rates several times higher than the national rate. Intimate partner and sexual violence are at epidemic levels<\/a>, with one in three women experiencing some form in their lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent federal and provincial election campaigns left the impression that spending more on prisons<\/a> and policing<\/a> is enough to stop violent and serious crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if long prison sentences reduced violent crime<\/a>, then American cities would be the safest in the world \u2014 they are not. If higher police salaries resulted in less violence in Canada<\/a>, then Edmonton<\/a> and Winnipeg<\/a> would be Canada’s safest cities \u2014 they are not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to truly reduce violent crime<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Current crime-fighting proposals lack concrete, evidence-based actions and proven public health strategies that are known to significantly and cost-effectively reduce violent crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last 50 years, research in Canada and internationally has identified a short list of programs proven to reduce violent crime by as much as 50 per cent within three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These initiatives are promoted by prestigious organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Kingdom’s Youth Endowment Fund<\/a>. The non-partisan Washington State Institute for Public Policy<\/a> has also demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of many of these programs compared to the dominant systems of policing and incarceration. These initiatives include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n