Decline Of Canada's Crime Rate In The 1990s

Before the 1990s Canada's crime rate was at an all-time high with around 10,342 crimes reported for every 100,000 people in 1991. After 1991, Canada had a striking decline in crime rate seemingly out of nowhere (Government of Canada Canada's crime rate: Two decades of decline, Statistics Canada). The reason for this decline has historically stumped many scholars. A structural functionalist scholar would look at this decline as the outcome of changing parts of society. Structural functionalists believe that every part of society has a specific role, and society will suffer if one part does not operate properly. This was most evident pre-1991 when crime was at an all-time high. This paper will expand on this idea of changing parts of society

Before 1991 there were 10,000 crimes per 100,000 people with 1000 of these crimes being caused by violent crime (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510007101&pickMembers%5B0%5D=2.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=1990&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2022&referencePeriods=19900101%2C20220101). In Canada, violent crime is classified as a “crime against someone involving the threat of violence including, homicide, attempted murder, assault, sexual assault, and robbery” (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2010002/definitions-eng.htm#v1). Structural functionalists would say mass shootings and deaths are supposed to be prevented by one specific part of society in the form of laws (textbook, 26). Since Canada had lenient gun laws, it was not performing its role, resulting in death. To combat this, functionalists would look into laws and regulations such as Bill C-17 to change a part of society (textbook, 26). In 1991 the Canadian government led by Brian Mulroney introduced Bill C-17 (Fleming et al.353). Bill C-17 created more barriers to owning firearms including but not limited to "making it mandatory for applicants to submit a photo and two references, imposing a mandatory 28-day waiting period before obtaining a firearms acquisition certificate, and requiring background checks with safety training." (https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/history-firearms-canada). The bill

There were 128,797 intoxicated drivers and drunk drivers charged in 1986 compared to 78,894 in 1996 (pg3 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x1997012-eng.pdf). Intoxicated drivers were classified as someone using a vehicle with a 0.08% alcohol level (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2016001/article/14679-eng.htm). Structural functionalists would see the impact of impaired driving on the legal system as a part of society failing at its present job. To change this failure, structural functionalists would look into changing the repercussions of drivers to try to offset the number of intoxicated drivers. Before this change was in place, the legal blood alcohol level was 0.08%(pg297 Vanlaar et al). This then changed in the 1990s when a 12-hour suspension was implemented when a person's blood alcohol level was 0.8 or above (Macdonald 33). This was then accompanied by more breath testing on roadsides by police officers (Macdonald 33). Although police officers and lawmakers contributed tremendously towards reducing drunk driving, this change may not have been possible without the push from Canadian drunk driving organizations. The first Canadian drunk driving organization, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MAAD Canada), was responsible for raising awareness to change policies and procedures around impaired driving (pg 35 El-Guebaly). MADD Canada