Crime Prevention in Indigenous Communities: An Examination of Culturally-Relevant Programs and Culturally-Competent Evaluation Approaches

Press Release

Background

Current research suggests that the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth and adults in the criminal justice system highlights the need for different approaches to crime prevention.

Specifically, crime prevention approaches should incorporate Indigenous worldviews, be culturally sensitive, and promote cultural safety.

To better understand the need for culturally-relevant programs and culturally-competent evaluation approaches for Indigenous Peoples, these research products:

• Identify risk/protective factors for crime among Indigenous persons;
• Analyze the connection between cultural practices, traditions, and activities and crime prevention objectives;
• Examine how Indigenous cultural practices, traditions, and activities have been included in crime prevention programming;
• Consider how culturally-relevant crime prevention programs are being evaluated; and
• Review the effectiveness of Indigenous cultural practices, traditions, and activities based on existing evaluation results.

Author’s note

This report reviewed and synthesized literature in response to two guiding research questions: how have Indigenous cultural practices, traditions, and activities been included in crime prevention programming and what is their connection with crime prevention; and, how have culturally-relevant crime prevention programs been evaluated and what is their contribution to crime prevention outcomes? This literature review includes a review of risk/protective factors for crime among Indigenous persons; a summary of the literature on crime prevention programs for Indigenous Peoples; analysis of the connection between cultural practices, traditions, and activities and crime prevention objectives; a review of program evaluations; a summary and analysis of evaluation approaches and methodologies; a review of the effectiveness of Indigenous cultural practices, traditions, and activities based on existing evaluation results; and, conclusions and recommendations. Articles reviewed for this review were published in English, dated from 1983 to 2021, and represented 22 countries. Countries of publication included Canada, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, the Philippines, and South Africa. Overall, the literature in this field (total of 291 articles and publications) is relatively new and challenging to find, particularly so for literature on the evaluation of programs. Indeed, the majority of articles reviewed were from gray literature sources, indicating that the field has not been extensively researched in academia; thus, causality is difficult to establish. Key themes included over-representation of Indigenous Peoples in all stages of the criminal justice system (and the reasons); risk and protective factors; nature of existing programming; and approaches for culturally-competent evaluation.
Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Inass Doukha and Eugénie Mandon.

Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of the report is to examine Canadian and international literature that describes crime prevention programs for Indigenous Peoples, and evaluations of these programs. Specifically, the report focuses on culturally-relevant approaches for crime prevention programs and evaluations.

Research has consistently demonstrated that Indigenous Peoples are substantially over-represented at all stages of the criminal justice system, both as victims and perpetrators (Allen, 2020; Boyce, 2016; Malakieh, 2020). This demonstrates the need to assess the contextual and environmental factors that may contribute to the disproportionate representation of Indigenous Peoples in the criminal justice system, including socio-economic factors, perceptions of crime/criminal behaviours, cultural or institutionally-embedded prejudice and barriers, etc. It is also worth noting that these factors are largely environmental and can point to deeply embedded inequalities or other existing social constructs and conditions that may prevent certain individuals from accessing the same opportunities as others. Protective factors or measures (e.g., acknowledging and eradicating inequalities, providing access to opportunities, education, prevention) can increase the resilience of at-risk populations and lessen the impact of risk factors on criminal behaviour.

Furthermore, crime prevention programs that can effectively target and address risk factors can help reduce the over-representation of Indigenous Peoples in the criminal justice system. However, for programs to be effective, they need to be relevant and address the specific needs of the individual or group. Research has demonstrated that, to be effective, programs need to be culturally appropriate (Cortés-Kaplan & Dunbar, 2021; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [OJJDP], 2016; Philpott, 2017).

Public Safety Canada seeks to shed light on best practices and keep abreast of the latest knowledge and research relating to crime prevention initiatives for Indigenous Peoples. In this regard, the Department is interested in learning how and why culturally-relevant approaches have been used in crime prevention programming for Indigenous participants in Canada and abroad, how these approaches have been evaluated, and their level of effectiveness. This research supports Public Safety Canada’s efforts to produce research on effective, evidence-based crime-prevention approaches, by discussing the existing literature on crime prevention programs with Indigenous culturally-specific components; analyzing the connection between culturally-relevant approaches and crime prevention; examining evaluations of crime prevention programs designed for Indigenous participants and their effectiveness; and, producing recommendations based on the gaps and needs arising from the literature review. This literature review will guide Public Safety Canada towards the necessary next steps to continue to support and leverage the use of Indigenous cultural practices, traditions, and activities in crime prevention programming and evaluations in Canada.

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