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Costs of Criminal Justice

NCJ Number
96383
Journal
Impact Issue: 2 Dated: (1984) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1984
Length
53 pages
Annotation
This text contains four articles that focus on the costs of crime, including costs to victims, society, and criminals, as well as on other expenditures and damages which result from crime.
Abstract
Recent trends in public sector spending for criminal justice in Canada are described, and the Federal, provincial/ territorial, and local governments are shown to have exhibited remarkably similar criminal justice spending patterns during the 1960's and 1970's. At each level of government, gross expenditures for police protection, correctional services, and courts of law rose uninterruptedly, with the annual rate of growth becoming particularly pronounced in the mid-1970's. From 1961 through 1980, each level of government increased its spending for criminal justice purposes by approximately $1 billion. In 1980, Canadian taxpayers and their governments paid more than $1.6 billion, or $71.25 per capita, for police services. Though the growth in the costs of policing generally mirrored similar increases in all government expenditures, evidence suggests that policing increased more than its proportional share of total expenditures. The costs of incarcerating offenders have also increased. Along with these increased costs, the prison and penitentiary population substantially increased. Finally, the costs of crimes to victims are also extensive. For example, the total real cost of crime for seven major cities in 1982 amounted to $431 million; physical and emotional costs were also high. Twenty-three tables, 9 figures, 18 references, and an appendix are provided.

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