Oct. 3, 2014
iPolitics – Steve Sullivan
Tough talk on crime is cheap — which is why Conservatives like it
After serving over 20 years for a violent sex crime, Raymond Lee Caissie has been arrested and charged with the murder of Surrey, BC’s 17-year-old Serena Vermeersch. Sullivan puts the crime in the context of inadequate follow-up on release and the government refusal to fund programs such as Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) with their proven track record and their community base. http://dev.ipolitics.ca/2014/10/01/tough-talk-on-crime-is-cheap-which-is-why-conservatives-like-it/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tough-talk-on-crime-is-cheap-which-is-why-conservatives-like-it
Global News (Calgary) – Jill Croteau and David Boushy
Wrongful Conviction Day – A Canadian victim speaks out
Oct. 2 is set aside to commemorate that our justice system is fallible and does convict innocent people with disastrous impact on many lives. Just ask David Milgaard – 17 years in prison for a wrongful conviction for murder who was finally released on DNA evidence. “I have scars”, says Milgaard. http://globalnews.ca/news/1595696/wrongful-conviction-day-a-canadian-victim-speaks-out Related article: Global News – Colin Perkel, Associated Press Top court asked to block Romeo Phillion wrongful prosecution lawsuit http://globalnews.ca/news/1593205/top-court-asked-to-block-romeo-phillion-wrongful-prosecution-lawsuit
Toronto Star – Wendy Gillis
‘Serious concerns’ raised about Toronto police officer’s credibility
Facing a second accusation by a judge of having manufactured evidence against alleged drug dealers, an Acting Sergeant of Toronto Police has the Police Services Act as a basis for hiding any other previous offences. Toronto police are citing privacy provisions of the act and refusing to say what, if any, discipline followed the denunciation by the judges and whether there were other such incidents. http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2014/10/03/serious_concerns_raised_about_toronto_police_officers_credibility.html
CBC News
Gang rape warning issued for St. John’s sex workers
The Safe Harbour Outreach Project has issued a warning to local female sex workers of a gang rape scenario in which a sex worker is engaged supposedly to meet a man at a hotel only to discover that once forced into the room there are a number of men who take turns. The recent economic boom has apparently led to an increased sex trade and increased numbers of sex workers. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/gang-rape-warning-issued-for-st-john-s-sex-workers-1.2785970
Vancouver Province – Harsha Walia and Syed Hussan
Electronic monitoring not an alternative to immigration detention
Given the recent death of immigrant Lucia Vega Jimenez in a holding cell at Vancouver Airport, and the recent Red Cross report on conditions in immigration detention, these two reporters are sceptical about the motives of CBSA and suggest that electronic monitoring ignores the basic issue around why people not convicted of crime are serving hard time in maximum security prisons? The imprisonment is an administrative decision and can even be indefinite in the case of people whose native country refuses them. http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/10/02/harsha-walia-and-syed-hussan-electronic-monitoring-not-an-alternative-to-immigration-detention
National Journal (US) – Emma Roller
How Republicans Stopped Being ‘Tough on Crime’
Roller traces the history of tough-on-crime through one Willie Horton whose story pressured Democrats to accept the Republican stance for the tough sentencing. Now, Marc Levin, founder of Right on Crime, is credited with persuading the leading lights of the GOP to give up its “lock ‘em up” mantra, partially because of the price tag and the minority discrimination of the system. Says Republican Senator and GOP presidential hopeful Rand Paul: “Our current system is broken and has trapped tens of thousands of young men and women in a cycle of poverty and incarceration.” http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/how-republicans-stopped-being-tough-on-crime-20141001
Huffington Post (US) – Mauricio Lim Miller
My Mother’s Influence: Why We Must Recognize Personal Relationships
Miller wants us to recognize the importance of relationships and the influence of relationships on our lives, perhaps RJ at home. She reports on writer and performer Daniel Beaty who, in a theatrical tribute, remembers all the struggles that his mother endured raising five children by herself – and who also remembers that while providing unstinting care, he says “…but mama, I never saw you dance, I never saw you dance and I wonder what happened to your music … So dance mama dance, break the flood gates of countless un-cried tears, … Dance, mama, dance for all the dreams that you forgot so we could make it through the day, dance mama dance like your nightmare is ending.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maurice-lim-miller/my-mothers-influence-why-_b_5916386.html?utm_hp_ref=impact&ir=Impact