May 22, 2013
BC Civil Liberties Association
Aboriginal woman settles lawsuit over 3½ years solitary confinement
The BC Civil Liberties Association has secured a settlement to a lawsuit filed in March 2011 for BobbyLee Worm, an Aboriginal woman subjected to 3 1/2 years of solitary. Corrections Canada has also agreed to dispense with “the Management Protocol,” first created in 2005 and under which seven inmates were held in long term solitary. Other lawsuits remain. (Backgrounder notes as well towards the end of the post.) http://bccla.org/news/2013/05/bccla-settles-solitary-confinement-lawsuit-against-federal-government Related article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/21/bc-bccla-solitary-confinment-lawsuit.html
Law Times (Canada) – Elizabeth Thompson
What’s the cost of a life of crime?
The federal government is looking to put a price tag on the cost of a life of crime, that is, the trajectory of the lifetime pre-occupied with the crime. In the US, estimates are that a 14 year old diverted from a life of crime would save 2.6 to 5.3 million. Margaret Beare, professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, has some pointed remarks about more viable ways to spend the research dollars. Says Beare: “But maybe prevention-type numbers with dollars attached to them is the only thing that might encourage Harper to turn away from the totally dangerous and crime-producing get-tough tactics that he is currently pushing.” http://www.lawtimesnews.com/201305209816/Headline-News/Whats-the-cost-of-a-life-of-crime McMurtry and Curling report: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/english/documents/topics/youthandthelaw/rootsofyouthviolence-vol3.pdf Better Beginnings, Better Futures http://bbbf.ca/Home/tabid/520/language/en-US/Default.aspx
The Australian News – Katherine Danks, Daily Telegraph
Suffering in silence – kids won’t report bullies
Security technology company McAfee interviewed 500 children between 8 and 12 years, and another 500 between 13-17 on cyberbullying. There are differences in willingness to report by age group as well as large numbers just unwilling to report at all. The younger group continued to use the site source even after the bullying. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/suffering-in-silence-kids-wont-report-bullies/story-e6frg6n6-1226647951644
Dallas Morning News – Editorial
Pass Senate bill to help Texans with persistent mental illnesses
Texas is realizing that people with mental illness are often winding up in jail. The state government is trying to provide mental health care by expanding the definition of those mental problems that are to be included in services provided in the community. http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20130521-editorial-pass-senate-bill-to-help-texans-with-persistent-mental-illnesses.ece
Halifax Herald – David Jackson
Q&A: Education and prevention keys to curbing cyberbullying, MacKay says
Dalhousie Law professor and chairman of 2012 Nova Scotia task force on bullying, Wayne MacKay has some suggestions about the relative merits of a criminal code response. http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1130408-qa-education-and-prevention-keys-to-curbing-cyberbullying-mackay-says