No killing…

July 13, 2020 

Globe and Mail – Canadian Press
Canada’s largest Indigenous police force has never shot anyone dead

The Nishnawbe Aski Police Service is 26 years old with currently 203 officers (60% Indigenous) and policing 34,000 people over 34 communities, mostly in remote settings.  “The key difference from urban, non-Indigenous policing, insiders and observers say, is the relationship building between officers and the people they serve…In the past, you might have been the only officer in there,” Roland Morrison, chief of NAPS says from Thunder Bay. “You would have no radio, you’ve got no backup, so you really effectively have to use your communication and talk to people. You have to develop relationships with the communities in order to have positive policing.”  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/amp/canada/article-canadas-largest-indigenous-police-force-has-never-shot-anyone-dead-2/?__twitter_impression=true  Related article:  CBC News – Thomas Rohner   Nunavut’s high rate of police-related deaths ‘obviously worth looking into,’ says data expert – Rate more than 14 times higher than other regions since 2010, statistics show   https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavut-police-related-death-rate-high-data-1.5645619   Related article: Toronto Star – Jennifer Pagliaro  Toronto council votes against cutting 2021 police budget, votes for mayor’s reform plan  https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/06/29/toronto-city-council-votes-against-cutting-2021-police-budget-by-10-per-cent.html

CBC News – Elizabeth Thompson
Child sex exploitation is on the rise in Canada during the pandemic – Police and experts say abusers have been taking advantage of children spending more time online

Canada appears to be suffering from another epidemic besides Covid-19 but coming in part from the virus.  With kids at home and spending more time on line, “Stephen Sauer, director of Cybertip.ca, said his organization saw an 81 per cent spike over April, May and June in reports from youth who had been sexually exploited, and reports of people trying to sexually abuse children…”It seems to be an epidemic right now online.”   RCMP at the National Child Exploitation Crime Centre agree there has been a significant increase.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-child-sexual-abuse-1.5645315

KTCS (Los Angeles, US) – Don Thompson, Associated Press
 California may release 10% of inmates in pandemic response

The release of prisoners in California is following an insistence by courts and corrections people that the prisons are badly over-populated and numbers need to be reduced if there is to be any chance creating space for safety from Covid-19.  The goal is to release 10,000.  “The latest step, outlined in a memo Thursday, is projected to soon free about 2,100 inmates by granting most a one-time three-month credit. It follows other measures that are expected to quickly bring the releases of about 8,300 inmates six months before they normally would have been paroled.”  https://ktxs.com/news/coronavirus/california-may-release-10-of-inmates-in-pandemic-response-1   Related article: The Jurist.com – Rebecca Salamacha    California to release 8,000 prisoners due to COVID-19  https://www.jurist.org/news/2020/07/california-to-release-8000-prisoners-due-to-covid-19/

Pro Publica (Illinois, US) – Logan Jaffe
The Legend of A-N-N-A: Revisiting an American Town Where Black People Weren’t Welcome after Dark

Much of our experience of racism comes from our exposure to graphic TV violence in civil disorder and clashes with police.  This link shows a different perspective more deeply buried in the white enclaves and often rural settings.  The article is about towns that kept themselves white, and be forewarned, there are graphic scenes described and perhaps the use of offensive language.  https://features.propublica.org/illinois-sundown-towns/legend-of-anna/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter  Related article: Washington Post – Tim Craig and Aaron Williams   A new generation challenges the heartland – Big changes in small towns are fueling a racial justice movement across the Midwest.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/11/midwest-changing-demographics-black-lives-matter-protests/?arc404=true&utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

WGBH (Public Radio, Boston, US) – Jenifer B. McKim
Parole in Massachusetts: Free To Go, But Not To Leave

The movement for prison reform is beginning to illuminate all sorts of related social and health problems from current practices, including the policies governing practices such as parole.  This link draws attention to the connection between parole and mental illness in which the placement of the individual with mental health concerns once given parole appear to simply extend a prison regime.  63 year old Wilfred Dacier got parole on condition that he be housed in a secure mental health facility run by the state.  The institution said he did not need to be such a facility but the parole board rescinded the parole.  The impasse went on for almost 10 years and according to advocates the situation is not all that unusual.  https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2020/07/08/parole-in-massachusetts-free-to-go-but-not-to-leave

The Guardian Long read (UK) – Philip Alston
Covid-19 has revealed a pre-existing pandemic of poverty that benefits the rich

The link may help in the global view of the impact of the pandemic but may also help understand the impact of Covid-19 on our own impoverished and low income citizens.  Alston takes issue with the use of the agenda of the wealthy as a means of fighting poverty.  At specific issue are the practices of the World Bank and the implications of the Sustainable development goals of the UN.  Alston was the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.  https://amp.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/11/covid-19-has-revealed-a-pre-existing-pandemic-of-poverty-that-benefits-the-rich?__twitter_impression=true

The Chronicle Herald (Halifax) – Noushin Ziafati
‘It’s about healing’: New project helps women, families shift from domestic violence to stability

A trauma-informed housing model is the difference. The Adsum group keeps apartments available for an immediate emergency response to battered women fleeing the domestic abuse.  The temporary housing apartments come with a formal trauma program and lead to more permanent housing.  Says Kathy McNab of Adsum:  “When you think about domestic violence, one of the big things that happens is the abuser disconnects them from their family and their friends, and we’re trying to break that cycle of isolation and silence by helping people reconnect with their family, friends and their community and then integrating them in the new community they’re in… It’s about healing.”   https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/its-about-healing-new-project-helps-women-families-shift-from-domestic-violence-to-stability-471647/

N.Y. Times (US) – Hailey Fuchs
Judge Moves to Delay Federal Execution Scheduled for Monday – A district court in Washington, D.C., put the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee on hold hours before it was to be carried out. The Justice Department immediately appealed.

The execution of Lee has been on-again, off again since the Attorney General William Barr announced the resumption of federal executions, the first, Lee, scheduled for today but at the moment is again on hold.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/us/politics/federal-execution.html   Related article: Indianapolis  Star (US)   Holly V. Hays and Tim Evans  Judge delays executions hours before Daniel Lewis Lee is set to die by lethal injection  https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/indianapolis/2020/07/13/daniel-lewis-lee-execution-terre-haute-judge-orders-stay/5417537002/   Related article:  Bloomberg Law – Robert Dunham Vast Majority on Federal Death Row Have Significant Impairments    https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/insight-vast-majority-on-federal-death-row-have-significant-impairments  Related article: AZ Central.com – Associated Press   Worker aiding preparation for federal execution tests positive for COVID-19  https://amp.azcentral.com/amp/5424353002?__twitter_impression=true