Mar 22, 2014
Kingston Life – Lawrence Scanlan
Hope in Hell: Shouldn’t prisons make offenders better, not worse?
Be forewarned that this article may be able to drain you of whatever hope you may have for eventual humane treatment of inmates in our prisons. The impact of overcrowding, the lack of programs, the infrequent and hassled family visits, the loss of countless little things, all collectively destroy the capacity to hope in the Pittsburgh Institution by grinding down whatever may be left of the human spirit. http://eedition.kingstonlife.ca/doc/kingston-life/_kl_feb2014/2014031001/#24
BBC News (UK)
Girls in gangs leading desperate lives, says report
A report from the Centre for Social Justice, a right leaning think tank founded by a Conservative cabinet minister, has determined that the use of girls for gang guns and drugs business is passing unnoticed and needs a focused attention. “Deputy policy director, Edward Boyd, said the report had discovered a “brutal underworld” where sexual exploitation and carrying guns and drugs were “almost commonplace”. They live in a parallel world where rape is used as a weapon and carrying drugs and guns is seen as normal.” http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26698890
Related article: Belfast Telegraph – ‘Desperate lives’ of girls in gangs http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/desperate-lives-of-girls-in-gangs-30117479.html
Full Report of CSJ (A 37 page pdf) Girls and Ganges http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/UserStorage/pdf/Pdf%20reports/Girls-and-Gangs-FINAL-VERSION.pdf
A Smart Justice Network of Canada event
March 26, 7-9 pm in Jean Pigott Hall, City Hall, 110 Laurier Avenue West. For questions or to reserve a seat, contact Smart Justice Network of Canada (www.smartjustice.ca) .
Collaborative Community Partnerships ‘to do what works’:
COULD WE BE GETTING SMARTER ABOUT JUSTICE IN OTTAWA?
Some say the jury is in: ‘smart’ justice means spending on what works to solve the connection between crime and many other ongoing challenges families and communities confront in becoming safer and healthier: housing, poverty, health, employment, child care, education, cognitive challenges, addictions, mental health, social belonging. To produce effective outcomes for community safety, more than the police and legal tools are needed: of crucial importance are collaborative partnerships that engage the collective resources of many other sectors in responding together to the challenges of each situation.
You are invited to a public dialogue, moderated by Ottawa City Councillor Diane Holmes: it will highlight what has happened in some jurisdictions where the police have been collaboratively engaged in these partnerships. The successes have been remarkable, realizing outcomes that are preventative and restorative. They are starting to signal a very different way to deal with social and justice challenges – and a better way to fight crime.
This is not a new concept for the Ottawa community. There are plenty of examples right here of innovative programs and partnerships, with many successes and ‘lessons learned’ about what works and how to work together. But there is also frustration at constantly fighting for adequate funding, that can be sustained, to do what we know will make a difference; and a huge emotional toll when the overall shift seems insignificant.
This event is a unique opportunity to question closely some pioneering leaders who have helped make a shift that is sustainable and significant:
Dale McFee in Saskatchewan,
Danny Graham in Nova Scotia,
Molly Baldwin and Corporal Keith Houghton in Boston, Massachusetts.
They have been on the cutting edge, in their own communities, of turning talk into action. Learn about social financing or ‘paying for what works’ – and how it has redirected funds, currently spent on processing and incarcerating offenders, into community-based partnerships that prevent and tackle the causes of crime. Hear the experiences of other leaders in collaborative partnerships resourcing the National Symposium on Policing and Community Partnerships.
· How did they get started in creating collaborative partnerships?
· How did they overcome the challenges: funding issues, responding to failures, resolving internal conflicts, failing to interconnect humanly with each other…
· How did local community partnerships ‘to do what works’ start shifting the focus of some provincial policies and practices in policing and corrections?
· What have been the nuts and bolts, in times of fiscal restraint, of attracting new partners and sources of funds to produce greater safety at lower cost?
· How can social financing be adapted for local community based initiatives in Canada?
Come and enter the dialogue:
Do we want more of this for Ottawa? What would we need to change?
This public session to explore how we can re-imagine the future of justice is free of charge and sponsored by the Smart justice Network of Canada and Pacific Business & Law Institute (PBLI).