May 27, 2022
The Conversation – (Queen’s University) – Jessica Templem
Punishment vs. deportation: What we can learn from the case of the truck driver in the Humbolt Broncos bus crash
The title of this article may be somewhat confusing until one recognizes that the issue is between the sentence Jaskirat Singh Sidhu received (and served – the longest ever in Canadian jurisprudence for this offence when there has been no drugs or alcohol involved) as punishment and the requirement under immigration law to deport as a further penal consequence. “Recognition of the distinction in rationales for punishment and deportation is acute to broader discussions of citizenship. We must be attentive to whose rights are delimited based on the binary between citizens and foreigners that supports deportation. Who is actually captured by these categories? Who is a citizen, who is protected and who is excluded?” https://theconversation.com/punishment-vs-deportation-what-we-can-learn-from-the-case-of-the-truck-driver-in-the-humbolt-broncos-bus-crash-182001?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%2026%202022&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%2026%202022+CID_fd2d22e0a34c1df7df3d9e468de7e58c&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Punishment%20vs%20deportation%20What%20we%20can%20learn%20from%20the%20case%20of%20the%20truck%20driver%20in%20the%20Humbolt%20Broncos%20bus%20crash Related article: The Walrus – Sharon J. Riley, Illustrations by Anson Chan Crime and Endless Punishment: How much retribution is enough for the driver who caused the Humboldt crash? (Not yet available electronically – usually appears a month after the paper edition – June 2022 https://thewalrus.ca/ Related article: The Conversation (Queen’s University) – Antony Fong and Zamir Saar Canada needs to be as welcoming to Afghan refugees as it is to Ukrainians https://theconversation.com/canada-needs-to-be-as-welcoming-to-afghan-refugees-as-it-is-to-ukrainians-182363?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%2026%202022&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%2026%202022+CID_fd2d22e0a34c1df7df3d9e468de7e58c&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Canada%20needs%20to%20be%20as%20welcoming%20to%20Afghan%20refugees%20as%20it%20is%20to%20Ukrainians
Blogger Russell Webster (UK)
Big increase in sentence lengths
Webster notes an alarming increase in the length of the sentence for conviction under indictable offenses has gone from 16.8 months in 2011 to 21.1 months in 2020 to 24.9 months in 2022. The stats come from a new statistical report from government itself and shows a 48% increase which other circumstances do not explain. Arrests and prosecutions are also up by 18% as are the total number of offenders sentenced in 2021. https://www.russellwebster.com/big-increase-in-sentence-lengths/ Full report: Published 19 May 2022: Criminal Justice Statistics quarterly, England and Wales, year ending December 2021 (annual) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1076569/cjs-bulletin-december-2021.pdf
Death Penalty Information Center (US)
Florida Becomes Latest State to End Permanent Death-Row Solitary Confinement after Settlement of Conditions Lawsuit
U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Morales Howard has approved an agreement that ends permanent solitary confinement for those under sentence of death and brings further improvements in conditions in death row. “The settlement allows the prisoners to spend up to 20 hours a week in a day room, where they can meet with others, watch television, and have access to Department of Corrections multimedia kiosks. They will also have more access to phones to call loved ones, increased shower access, and will be granted six hours a week of outside activity — up from three hours — with a new sunshade. Prisoners who meet eligibility requirements determined by the Department of Corrections will also have access to institutional jobs.” https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/florida-becomes-latest-state-to-end-permanent-death-row-solitary-confinement-after-settlement-of-conditions-lawsuit
Twitter from Adrian Zenz (China Researcher and US citizen)
“BREAKING: huge trove of files obtained by hacking into Xinjiang police / re-education camp computers contain first-ever image material from inside camps, reveal Chen Quanguo issuing shoot-to-kill orders, Xi Jinping demanding new camps because existing ones are overcrowded.” This tweet, allegedly the result of hacking into China’s Xinjiang police computer files on a detention center, raises all sorts of human rights issues and reveals, if accurate, many of the practices thought happening to the Uyghur and other political detainees. See the full string and the efforts to authenticate the news. More to come for sure… https://twitter.com/adrianzenz/status/1528989272031772672?s=03
The Intercept (US) – Akela Lacy
Cops Didn’t Stop the Uvalde School Shooting – And they won’t stop the next.
Lacy reviews the circumstances of the latest Texas elementary school killings (more than 2 dozen mass shootings at schools this year so far). Then she tackles the question of police on campus as preventative and offers a pointed assessment from Marc Schindler, co-author of an April 2021 Brookings Institution and American Enterprise Institute report on school policing. ““Police are really in schools because they are the most effective tool for the state at controlling young Black and brown people… What does keep schools safe is having more well trained mental health counselors, social workers, and alternative resolution dispute programs.” https://theintercept.com/2022/05/25/texas-uvalde-shooting-school-police/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter Brookings Institute and American Enterprise Institute full report: Ryan King and Marc Schindler A better path forward for criminal justice: Reconsidering police in schools https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-better-path-forward-for-criminal-justice-reconsidering-police-in-schools/ Related article: Uvalde Police Swat Team – Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=uvalde%20swat%20team (This town of 16,000 people has its own Swat team – nine members shown on Facebook.) Related article: CNN – Chris Cillizza What Greg Abbott gets *totally* wrong about the Uvalde shooting (Abbott was to be a feature speaker at the NRA Convention in Houston but has withdrawn; he also withdrew $211 million in mental health funding in the state.) https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/politics/greg-abbott-uvalde-texas-school-shooting/index.html
ALL OUT TO PROTEST NORTH AMERICA’S BIGGEST WEAPONS SHOW
Wednesday June 1 2022. Starting at 7:00am. At the EY Centre (4899 Uplands Drive by the airport) in Ottawa.
The link offers insight into Canada’s involvement as an arms supplier to countries already warring. The protest is meant to confront CANSEC, Canada’s largest arms sales exhibit held annually in Ottawa. https://worldbeyondwar.org/cansec/
CBC News – Bobby Hristova ·
Tree planting at former residential school a ‘big step’ to ‘reclaiming my power,’ survivor says –
For Roberta Hill, once beaten to taking an apple to eat secretly, the planting of the apple trees was an act of reclaiming the fruits of their labor. “The Mohawk Institute, also known as the Mush Hole because of the food students were forced to eat, was among the oldest and longest running residential schools in the country. It operated for 136 years… An estimated 15,000 students attended and records indicate 54 deaths at the residential school.” The site is a museum now – the Woodland Cultural Centre that works to educate to the history and impact of the Mohawk Institute. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/tree-planting-mohawk-institute-search-1.6464864
CBC News – Elizabeth McMillan and Haley Ryan
Most families of people killed in N.S. mass shooting boycott public hearings – Lawyers representing most families say they should be able to question top Mounties directly
The inquiry has enraged several family survivors to boycotting the hearing by coming to a decision to allow two key RCMP officers to give testimony via video and to be exempt from cross examination by the family lawyers. “Although the commission has the power to subpoena people to testify, Beaton said they’re not using it enough — and when they do so, the evidence is often given behind closed doors or with other conditions attached.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/many-families-boycott-mass-casualty-commission-hearings-1.6464938