April 27, 2022
University of Toronto – Compiled from Criminological Highlights by Maria Jung (Ryerson University), Jane B. Sprott (Ryerson University) and Anthony N. Doob (University of Toronto).
Evaluating the Benefits of Pardons: An Overview of Criminological Highlights Summaries of Research Related to Pardons
This is an extraordinary resource for those about to consider the notion of sequestering criminal records. It draws from a multitude of individual research documents in the well-known Criminological Highlights and makes the collective wisdom of those voices strident for change and powerful for vision. Beside the main content there are many links offered to other helpful documents on these issues. The background for pardons in Canada is followed by the six key points: Background to Pardons in Canada; Predicting Offending/Re-Offending; The Role of Employment Post-Release; Impact of Criminal Records on Other Areas of Reintegration and Community Participation; Public Perceptions; Highlights. https://www.crimsl.utoronto.ca/research-publications/faculty-publications/evaluating-benefits-pardons-overview-criminological
This document may be helpful as well in the event that you wish to comment in written form on the recent Public Safety invitation from the platform for the project. If you go to the registration site for the Sequestering survey, there is a series of questions that allow you to provide written comments. https://letstalk-criminal-records.ca/
Coalition against Proposed Prison (Kemptville, ON)
Doug Ford’s prison plan is a problem (Reasons might shock you)
The link is to a 3 minute video pointing out the faulty consultation process, the waste of good farm land, the inadequacy of the support services in the proposed site. Additionally, the group says that reform of the bail and remand process could make the prison pointless anyway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxxP-YG4QXM Related article: CBC Thunder Bay: Ontario ombudsman’s report details flawed closures of youth justice programs in northwest – 25 youth detention and custody programs across Ontario were closed in March 2021 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/ombudsman-youth-detention-program-closures-report-1.6431791 Ombudsman Paul Dubé: Full Report (A 60 page downloadable PDF) Lost Opportunities https://www.ombudsman.on.ca/Media/ombudsman/ombudsman/resources/Reports-on-Investigations/LostOpportunities-EN_FINAL-s.pdf
Toronto Star – Contributing authors Jeffrey Bradley and Irwin Waller
In Ontario, anti-handgun election promises are aiming at wrong target – Politicians of many stripes claim that we can arrest and punish our way out of handgun violence. But this simply is not true.
Bradley and Waller are right. The place to stop crime is upstream prevention strategy and not more police, more prisons or more money for any of these. As we near elections we hear the same mantra about get more police, giving them better tools and arresting more people. Surprise! “Public opinion polls show that addressing crime and victimization upstream through prevention is favoured over more criminal justice responses. Let’s offer the public effective preventive, not magical solutions that do not work.” https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/04/26/in-ontario-anti-handgun-election-promises-are-aiming-at-wrong-target.html
Blogger Russell Webster (UK)
Drugs in Prison – European Best Practice
Webster draws out a picture of the best practices for prisons dealing with drug / alcohol addiction at the point of entry and expands the view across the prison stay and the re-entry process on release. The European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has released a mini-guide for health and social responses to drugs in prison. The guide offers an assessment of European best practices and emphasizes the continuity of treatment programs from prison into the community health care services. https://www.russellwebster.com/drugs-in-prison-european-best-practice/ Related article: Blogger Russell Webster (UK) A guest post by Olivia Dehnavi, Policy and Research Officer at Working Chance – Breaking The Cycle Of Poverty And Criminalisation With #BetterBenefits – Working Chance says the inadequacy of the benefits system is both a reason why some women are swept into the criminal justice system, and the reason that they can’t escape it. https://www.russellwebster.com/breaking-the-cycle-of-poverty-and-criminalisation-with-betterbenefits/
Toronto Star – Wendy Gillis
Toronto seeing dramatic spike in anti-Asian hate crimes, new police data says – Police say the COVID-19 pandemic remains a “key” contributing factor to a jump in hate crimes that began in 2020.
Police in Toronto are reporting a significant increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and assaults associated with the pandemic while admitting that the stats generated are on actual complaints to police and that the situation is likely considerably under-reported. “The most victimized groups were members of the Jewish community (22 per cent), Black people (18 per cent) and East and Southeast Asian communities (16 per cent).” The increase has been over the last two years. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/04/25/toronto-seeing-dramatic-spike-in-anti-asian-hate-crimes-new-police-data-says.html Related article: CBC News: The Canadian Press Antisemitism in Canada at record levels in 2021 with surge in violence, audit finds – B’nai Brith Canada legal counsel says universities ‘breeding grounds’ for antisemitism https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-antisemitism-violence-report-1.6430495?utm_source=Morning+Brief&utm_campaign=7e9b80408c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_02_COPY_1332&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a43c5d924a-7e9b80408c-206962393
BBC News (UK) – Andre Rhoden-Paul
Royal couple told of Antigua and Barbuda’s wish to be republic
The side agenda to this political news is of note. The government of Antigua / Barbuda in the Caribbean, an island state that suffered slavery in one of the worst scenes – Barbuda was actually a “stud” colony where the healthiest males and females were put to give birth to more slaves for both domestic work in the sugar plantations and for international slave markets – wants the British government to work towards “reparation justice” while Antigua anticipates republican independence from the Commonwealth. Said Prime Minster Gaston Brown of Antigua: “Our civilisation should understand the atrocities that took place during colonialism and slavery and the fact that we have to bring balance by having open discussions…You can even use your, let’s say, diplomatic influence to build bridges in achieving the reparatory justice that we seek here in the Caribbean… Because the reality is we have been left and bereft of important institutions such as universities and good medicinal facilities.” https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61221706?utm_source=Morning+Brief&utm_campaign=7e9b80408c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_02_COPY_1332&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a43c5d924a-7e9b80408c-206962393
Black Ottawa Scene – Aedan Helmer
Bylaw officer fired for striking man in Michele Park incident – A review concluded with “no dispute” that the bylaw officer “struck the member of the public,” a memo to the mayor and members of council said Friday.
The city of Ottawa has settled a lawsuit over a Black citizen who was assaulted by a by-law enforcement officer who was pre-occupied with violations of the Covid pandemic regulations. The city accepted full responsibility for the incident, conceding after investigation that the by-law officer “engaged in the use of excessive force.” The unnamed officer was fired and sent to a diversion program rather than to the courts. http://blackottawascene.com/bylaw-officer-fired-for-assaulting-black-man/