Spring/Summer 2005 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

SOCIOLOGY / ANTHROPOLOGYPink BloodHomophobic Violence in CanadaDouglas Victor JanoffRe-imagining Policing inCanadaEdited by Dennis CooleyDespite Canada’s reputation as a beacon for equalityin the international struggle for gay rights,homophobia and homophobic violence remainmajor problems in the country. Since 1990, hundredsof gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgenderedpeople have been assaulted or murdered in Canada,but so far there has been little mention of the phenomenonin Canadian criminology textbooks orother publications.Pink Blood is the first book to analyse homophobicviolence on a national scale. Douglas VictorJanoff uses social theory, legal analysis, descriptivecase studies, and interviews with victims, activists,and police officers from thirty cities to convey theshattering impact this violence has had on queerCanadians and on the communities they inhabit.Janoff critically examines the concept of homophobia,the ‘homosexual panic defence,’ the ignoranceand brutality of some Canadian police officers, andhate crime legislation and policies that, despitegood intentions, are often powerless to counteractthis complex and troubling social problem.Drawing from a wide range of scholarship –law, criminology, sociology, psychology, philosophyand social work – Pink Blood is an important additionto the literature on queer life in Canada froma respected researcher and community activist.Douglas Victor Janoff is a policy advisor for theGovernment of Canada.Policing in Canada is in the process of change: similarto other nations in the western world, many ofthe policing services that were provided by publicforces in the past are being gradually handed over toprivate security agencies.Complex networks of policing that reflect amix of public and private security providers areemerging, and this transformation has seriousimplications for how Canadians interact with oneanother. For instance, if residents of a gated communityor members of a downtown business associationpay for their own policing services rather thanrelying on the public police, whose law is beingenforced?With this collection, Dennis Cooley hasbrought together some of the top minds in criminologyand policing to examine the phenomenonof the changing nature of policing in Canada. Theessays describe the character and constitution ofsecurity in Canada and explore the implications ofthese changes in terms of larger questions aboutpower, social control, justice, and law. Wide-rangingand topical, Re-imagining Policing in Canadawill prove essential reading for policy-makers andscholars alike.Dennis Cooley is the deputy minister of justice forthe Government of Yukon.Approx. 290 pp / 6 x 9 / April 200535 tablesCloth ISBN 0-8020-8781-7 £45.00 $70.00 EPaper ISBN 0-8020-8570-9 £21.50 $32.95 CApprox. 330 pp / 6 x 9 / March 2005Cloth ISBN 0-8020-3681-3 £40.00 $60.00 EPaper ISBN 0-8020-8503-2 £20.00 $29.95 C54