Community Types,Crime,and Police Services on Canadian Indian Reserves

Abstract

This article attempts to provide an explanation of variations in crime rates between four types of Indian band communities. Official crime rates for the period 1978-1983 produced by Amerindian Police activities on 25 Indian band reserves in Quebec, Canada, are examined in light of Gerber's community typology. This community typology is based on the two dimensions of “institutional completeness” of the Indian reserves and “personal resources development” of the band community members. Band communities emphasizing institutional completeness tend to produce higher official rates of interpersonal crime while band communities reflecting personal resource development display higher official rates of property crime.

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