Editor:
I still remember one of the first social work professors I had at UBC telling us about the complexity of the landscape we would face when we graduated. Yes, you will be working for your client, but don’t forget you also work for the taxpayer who pays your salary. An important lesson. Perhaps the most important lesson.
I’m not sure they still teach that philosophy in social work school, but I sure hope they do. (Do I sound like an old guy? That’s ok. I am getting there and proud of it.)
I wasn’t in the field long, working with people in the criminal justice system who were mentally ill and often addicted to drugs and alcohol, before I realized what my professor was talking about. The public have a right to feel safe and as much as possible live free of fear and crime. That same public expected professionals –– social workers, police –– to help minimize criminal activity; in the case of my clients: crime secondary to impaired thinking and mood, and often drugs and alcohol. I embraced a model of social work I still practice today: harm reduction. Reduce the harms people cause to themselves along with harm and costs caused to society.
The goal of social work in crime is to help people convicted of crime build bridges back to the society they often feel excluded from. Once you have been convicted of a crime it’s all too easy to slip into a criminal mentality, often accompanied by unacknowledged feelings of shame and rejection, projected outward as anger and anti-social behaviour. As a social worker you have to have a tough skin to help people peel back the layers of the onion and find the real person underneath. Johnny Cash understood that better than most.
I’m sorry I missed the community forum on crime last week in Sechelt because I’ve worked in the field my entire career and have some expertise and insights to share. Two neighbours dropped by to share their thoughts on the day after the forum, telling me they thought the forum was an excellent listening exercise. The kind of thing we should do more often on the Coast.
As social workers we understand society expects us to be tough on crime and help keep our communities safe. Afterall, that’s what you pay your taxes for.
But we also have expectations, based on our experience and the considerable research that has been done in the field by social workers, sociologists and criminologists. One thing social workers understand well is that we also need to be tough on the causes of crime. Detailed research on results of Manitoba’s brief foray into Universal Basic Income – what Manitoba called MINCOME – shows us that lack of income is a major determinant of property crime and possibly even domestic violence. MINCOME showed a real reduction in property crime, when controlled for other variables and for similar size and similar demographic communities. (email me and I will share the research with you).
That’s just one example of the causes of crime – causes we can address while also policing crime.
Together we can make the Sunshine Coast a safer and more equitable place. Social workers understand society’s expectations and have the tools to help people help themselves get off the tread mill of criminal activity. To recover, to be better people. To love and be loved. To once again be like the rest of us. We can be both tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.
John Richmond
Branch Representative,
Sunshine Coast BC Association of Social Workers
