Assess the effectiveness of current and previous gun control legislation in Canada on the occurrences of homicide.
Canada has made many regulations in gun control legislation to control homicide and suicide rates. Amendments were made to the provisions in the 1892 Criminal Code and later enhanced and evolved several times in years 1968, 1977, 1991, and 1995. The reason behind these changes was to prevent the misuse of firearms in homicides and suicides. These changes were made to protect public health and safety by banning private ownership and the use of firearms by high-risk users. Procuring the firearm license has been made extremely difficult through the recent provision that has mandated universal licensing of owners and firearm registration. These changes, however, had no associated benefit in containing homicide and suicide rates but a shift was observed in men and women of ages 45 to 60, that instead of the firearm as a means of committing homicide other methods such as hanging, poisoning, etc. were used. In conclusion, no associated benefits were found through the firearms legislature in reducing homicide but to make a difference, there is a need to introduce a multifaceted strategy to reduce homicide (Langmann, 2020).
Which theory of prostitution (functionalism or feminism) do you more strongly agree with? Why? How does this help define what prostitution is?
According to the theory of functionalism, prostitution helps in serving important benefits in the society, for instance, it provides women, who would otherwise be jobless, with an income and married men who are unsatisfied with their sexual life with an alternative as they would not fall in love with these women. According to this theory, prostitution helps in reducing divorce rates. In feminism, there are two types of feminists; anti-prostitution feminists that believe that prostitution is an exploitation of women and pro-prostitution feminists that believe that if a woman or a man chooses prostitution as a source of income, willingly, then they are free to do so (Jolin, 1994). Both these points raised by the feminist theory make sense as trafficking and sexual exploitation of women of different ages is a huge issue but on the other hand, many women are partaking in it willingly, so in conclusion, if a woman consensually engages in sex work then her choice should be respected but if not then legal aid and protection should be provided to her to get her out of it.
References
Langmann, C. (2020, June 18). Effect of firearms legislation on suicide and homicide in Canada from 1981 to 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2021, from PLoS One. 2020; 15(6): e0234457.: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234457
Jolin, A. (1994). On the Backs of Working Prostitutes: Feminist Theory and Prostitution Policy. Crime & Delinquency, 40(1), 69–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128794040001005
