On-line…

May 2, 2022

The Conversation (Queen’s) – F. Haider Alvi,  Deborah Hurst,  Janice Thomas,  Martha Cleveland-Innes
Four lessons from online learning that should stick after the pandemic

Lots of parents and educators as well as social media people have begun an assessment of the digital learning process as practiced during the pandemic and the viability of that process for the future.  Athabasca University began its work in digital education some 26 years ago and these professors have collaborated on four distinct lessons for those who use the medium for educational purposes.  https://theconversation.com/four-lessons-from-online-learning-that-should-stick-after-the-pandemic-179631?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%202%202022&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%202%202022+CID_a30eea2ade106aad72513a133a50f5b2&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Four%20lessons%20from%20online%20learning%20that%20should%20stick%20after%20the%20pandemic

Lawyer’s Daily – John Hill
Gender discrimination in prison

Prison sentences are served in institutions for male or for female persons. Hill is saying that the number of federally incarcerated persons outside the usual male/female designations is likely 3-7 times higher than reported and thinks that Corrections Canada should deal with the increasing numbers before there is more harm.  https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/criminal/articles/35536/gender-discrimination-in-prison-john-l-hill-?nl_pk=40ed8ea4-637a-4d76-870f-04f0eeae7de8&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=criminal   Related article:  CBC: The Doc Project with Acey Rowe   Fatherhood, Interrupted (A 27 minute podcast on the 450,000 children whose fathers are in prison in Canada)  https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-115-the-doc-project Related article: Canadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN)  The Canadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN) partners to help Incarcerated Dads  https://www.lte-ene.ca/en/canadian-families-and-corrections-network-cfcn-partners-help-incarcerated-dads

Public Safety Canada – Structured Intervention Units Panel Report
Preliminary Observations of the Operation of Correctional Service Canada’s Structured Intervention Units – The Structured Intervention Unit Implementation Advisory Panel

This initial public report was long delayed from political machinations – in fact, the government refusal to deliver specific statistical information to the appointed panel and the subsequent shut down of the panel.  The first report is intended to measure how the SIU or structured Intervention Units compared to the new policies around solitary confinement in the federal prisons.   The report confronts the use for the SIU’s for the number held in solitary and the duration of their stay as well as the specific impact on certain segments of the federal prison population.  The report also confronts the guidelines around the time spent outside the cell in meaningful interaction with others.  Besides a commentary on mental health and SIU’s, the report has a summation and a series of five conclusions about the practice.  https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/2022-siu-iap/index-en.aspx   The panel:  Structured Intervention Units and the Implementation Advisory Panel – https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/crrctns/siuiap-ccuis-en.aspx

The Marshall Project – Johndell Gredic, as told to Lakeidra Chavis
My Son Nacear Was Killed on Memorial Day. It Took Me Two Years to Cry.  I was taking care of his kids, going to work, and helping my other children process their brother’s murder. I couldn’t have accomplished what I needed to if I had cried sooner.

The link offers a series of commentaries with four different women speaking about their grief and their coping with the justice system involvement in the death of a loved one. . “In Philadelphia, where hundreds of people are shot each year, and most are Black males, Mothers in Charge (MIC) supports women and families who have lost loved ones to violence. Members and staff of the nonprofit organization appeared in “Heaven: Can You Hear Me?,” a short documentary about grief and recovery.”  The four mothers who made written commentaries contributed to a series of videos made by PBS and held by PBS but the commentaries themselves are also worthwhile.  https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/04/29/my-son-nacear-was-killed-on-memorial-day-it-took-me-two-years-to-cry  (From the landing page with the one story, click on the three other stories at the left.)  Related article: The Hill.com   We can’t improve minority health without addressing incarceration   “Incarceration doesn’t just leave lasting damage to incarcerated individuals but affects entire families and communities. For example, having a parent imprisoned is linked to many children’s health and behavioral problems that can persist through adulthood. Having a parent or sibling incarcerated is associated with worsened mental health.”   https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/3472181-we-cant-improve-minority-health-without-addressing-incarceration/  Blogger Russell Webster (UK) – Work with Offenders   Prisons make women’s health worse not better  https://www.workwithoffenders.co.uk/news/news_article/109019

Blogger Russell Webster (UK)
Supreme Court fails to prevent unjust joint enterprise convictions

Joint enterprise convictions are charges stemming from “a doctrine of criminal law which permits two or more defendants to be convicted of the same criminal offence in relation to the same incident, even where the levels and nature of involvement in the incident were different. Individuals in a joint enterprise case may be ‘principals’ or ‘secondary parties’.”  This new assessment comes from a Centre for Crime and Justice report.  Think of a driver who stops for a passenger to buy something at the corner store and the passenger robs the store at gun point.  The driver is potentially a secondary party.  In the UK in the last ten years there have been over 1,000 such convictions.  The recent ruling of the Supreme Court does not resolve the basic unfairness.  https://www.russellwebster.com/supreme-court-fails-to-prevent-unjust-joint-enterprise-convictions/   Full report:  Centre for Crime and Justice:  Helen Mills, Matt Ford and Roger Grimshaw   The usual suspects   https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/publications/usual-suspects

CBC News – Rebecca Zandbergen
‘Why did I come forward?’: Ontario woman says OPP mishandled sex assault investigation

Those looking for news that the report of sexual assault to police will bring comfort and healing to the victim will not find solace in this recent report from London, Ontario.  The victim walks through the experience and the way the police involved denigrated her story and her person, eventually pronouncing themselves unable to do anything about the incident and leaving the victim wondering about why she bothered to report it at all, a common experience reported by advocates.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/why-did-i-come-forward-ontario-woman-says-opp-mishandled-sex-assault-investigation-1.6435361