Fighting the Dangerous Offender Label: The Case of Karl Rowlee.

This paper reports on a case study of a Dangerous Offender trial in Canada, and is unique since the convict in question, Karl Rowlee, was found to be dangerous in 1998. In Canada, Dangerous Offenders are subject to an indeterminate life sentence. He appealed and secured a new trial on his dangerousness, and in 2005, a Superior Court vacated his DO designation and ordered that he become a long-term offender subject to a special parole term of 10 years. This occurred only after a highly contested re-trial. Using insider knowledge of the court process and trial transcripts, we reconstruct the evidence put forth in the courtroom for a "ring-side" seat to the construction of criminal dangerousness. We frame this analysis within the critical criminology of Richard Quinney (1970, 1974, 2000) and others. What emerges is the following: (a) the formulation and application of criminal definitions is influenced by status and power relationships; (b) the behavior of the "dangerous" is shaped by stratification patterns; and (c) the construction of criminal conceptions functions as a form of hegemonic ideology on behalf of state elites. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]