September 1, 2013
Toronto Star – Jennifer Pagliaro
Jane and Finch: Toronto’s most dangerous place to be a kid?
Here’s an update on a neighbourhood that has seen 10 homicides of its youth under 19 in six years. Since 2007, if you expand the victim age to 20 and 21, the total becomes 105. Says University of Toronto criminologist Scot Wortley “You really do need some kind of coordinated, permanent, institutional effort to address the issues in these communities and give kids hope,” http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2013/08/31/jane_and_finch_torontos_most_dangerous_place_to_be_a_kid.html Related article: Toronto Star Teen dead after Weston Rd. shooting late Sunday http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2013/09/02/teen_dead_after_weston_rd_shooting_late_sunday.html Related article: Toronto Star Child’s death in Bowmanville deemed homicide http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2013/08/31/childs_death_in_bowmanville_deemed_homicide.html Related article: CBC News Suspect in 6-year-old’s death is also a child http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2013/08/31/sk-boy-death.html
Chatham Daily News
Not all Canadians can get through U.S. customs
There are 600,000 Canadians who have criminal convictions for possession of marijuana. The US prohibits entry to those convicted of controlled substances or moral turpitude. The record suspensions now offered by the federal government do not clear the record as a pardon once did. http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2013/08/30/not-all-canadians-can-get-through-us-customs
CBC News
Mental illness patients strain Canada’s police forces
Vancouver Police Chief James Chu, speaking at the recent Association of Police Chiefs AGM in Winnipeg, wants governments to step up and provide facilities and programs for treating the mentally ill so that police are not front line mental health workers and prisons are not alternative mental hospitals. http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/08/21/mb-police-chiefs-mentally-ill.html
Virginia Pilot on line (US) – Mike Conners
Virginia Beach jail surprises other cities with transfers
What happens when you have more cells than people to fill them? Why you consolidate, negotiate and bargain a preferential policy so as to compete better. Trouble is, if your town gets an advantage, the other town squawk, and so do their politicians! http://hamptonroads.com/2013/08/va-beach-jail-surprises-other-cities-transfers
Detroit News
Operation Ceasefire brings together agencies to fight crime in one of Detroit’s most violent areas
With a $1.5 million grant from the feds, with the city of Detroit bankrupt and in disarray, with extreme violence commonplace, the law enforcement community has sent a letter to everyone who belongs to a gang and who is on parole or probation requiring their presence to a session that announces gang targets for enforcement while offering social services to re-direct the potential for gang affiliated violence. Clergy and social services will supplement testimony from some who have turned their lives around. http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130830/METRO01/308300036#ixzz2dYc9jm9p
Bakersfield Now
Prisoners advocates back early release of older ‘lifers’
Recognizing that lifers are often among the least likely to re-offend and that they are the most expensive to keep in jail, Vanessa Nelson-Sloan, director of Life Support Alliance, is advocating for release of all those lifers eligible for parole to help solve the overcrowding problems in California’s jails. The overcrowding problem is compounded since the need to eliminate the 10,000 inmates mandated by federal court order will only bring the prison population to 137% of the occupancy rates. http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Prisoner-advocates-back-early-release-of-older-lifers-221869191.html
Global Post (US) – Charles M. Sennott
Why rising income inequality matters
The income gap between the rich and poor is widening around the world. US economist Joseph Stiglitz says that political and economic instability is the first price to pay, undermining democracy and basic values. This article is the first part of a series aimed at understanding why income inequality is rising and its potential consequences world-wide. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/groundtruth/why-rising-income-inequality-matters
Digital Journal (UK)
UK alcohol & drug abuse make it ‘addiction capital’ of Europe
The Centre for Social Justice is reporting that the addiction to hard drugs is growing with more devastation on families and that women are highest in alcohol dependency. One in four Brits, the centre suggests, has a problem with alcohol. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/357540#ixzz2djy7vpxI