May 27, 2023 – Revolving crimes…
Toronto Star – Jacques Gallant
Addiction. Poverty. Mental health. Those are the real challenges facing Ontario’s justice system, retired judge warns – If Ontario took seriously the social issues that send people to courts again and again, “we wouldn’t have many cases left,” says retired judge Mary Hogan.
Judge Mary Hogan recently retired after three decades on the bench from the Ontario Court of Justice. She was instrumental in establishing special courts and has some pointed things to say about what needs to change in the criminal legal system. “If we took addiction, mental health and poverty — and everything that goes with poverty, like lack of housing — out of the mix, we wouldn’t have many cases left.” She also thinks “…the system needs to start taking a hard look at diverting even more cases — including serious ones — out of the traditional criminal system, so people can get support and rehabilitation rather than jail time.” https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/05/21/addiction-poverty-mental-health-those-are-the-real-challenges-facing-ontarios-justice-system-retired-judge-warns.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=thestar_recommended_for_you
Sudbury Star
System failing sex trafficking survivors, report says – Sudbury-based group says findings shows the need for reform and more services
Angels of Hope against Human Trafficking in Sudbury and Jeffrey Bradley of Ottawa have put together a report from 15 co-operating survivors that at once illustrates the failures and the racism in the criminal legal system towards Indigenous people. “The current criminal legal system in Canada is punitive and oppressive toward Indigenous peoples because of systemic racism, discriminatory practices and victim-blaming narratives embedded in colonial institutions,” Bradley said. “Some suggested solutions to uproot these issues were decolonizing the justice system, restorative justice, Indigenous justice systems and community care to address root causes.” https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/local-news/system-failing-sex-trafficking-survivors-report-says
Pew Charitable Foundations – Outreach
Racial Disparities Persist in Many U.S. Jails – Despite narrowed gap in incarceration rates, Black people remain overrepresented in jail populations, admissions—and stay longer on average
Reports like these from independent and reputable bodies such as Pew make the failures of the criminal legal system undisputable – plus a change. “The large growth of the United States’ criminal legal system in the late 20th century brought a widening racial gap in incarceration. By the year 2000, Black people made up almost half of the state prison population but only about 13% of the U.S. population. And although a wave of changes to sentencing and corrections policies over the past two decades has helped lessen disparities in federal and state prisons, Black adults still were imprisoned in 2020 at five times the rate for White adults.” https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2023/05/racial-disparities-persist-in-many-us-jails
An idea whose time has come for Canada as well?
National Reconciliation Week 2023 – Australia 27 May to 3 June
“The theme encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work and socialise. For the work of generations past, and the benefit of generations future, act today for a more just, equitable and reconciled country for all.” https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/ Related article: CBC News (MB) – Province, police cement partnership to respond more rapidly to domestic violence calls – ‘Our duty as a responsible government and police service is to provide those necessary supports’ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/domestic-violence-support-response-winnipeg-police-justice-1.6854362 Related article: The News Tribune (Washington State) – Matt Driscoll An incarcerated writer slammed conditions at the Pierce County Jail. We should listen https://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/article275766541.html#
Blogger Alex Karakatsanis (US)
The Big Deception: Part 2 How does the news falsify the motivations of powerful people?
This link is to part 2 of a larger commentary on the way media deals with crime reporting. Part 1 dealt with the media creating a mass delusion around why certain policies exist. Part 2 confronts how the media accomplishes the big deception. “The goal of public safety officials is not accurate public understanding of complex issues. This is why they “spin” information: to obtain and preserve political power.” The link also provides an update on the practice of cash bail in Los Angeles. https://equalityalec.substack.com/p/the-big-deception-part-2?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Human Rights Watch
Japan: ‘Hostage Justice’ System Violates Rights – Criminal Suspects Denied Due Process, Fair Trials
This article may be timely for Canada as the controversy about denial of bail plays out. The link offers some insights around the real, and sometimes tragic, failures to assure human rights and bail around legal procedures – in this incident Japan. The Human rights report exposes the bail system as badly flawed and contributing to such persistence by police that false confessions result and sometimes actual medical harm. “You are basically held hostage until you give the prosecutors what they want. This is not how a criminal justice system should work in a healthy society,” says Nobuo Gohara, former prosecutor, quoted in the Japan Times, January 5, 2019.” https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/25/japan-hostage-justice-system-violates-rights Full report (English https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/05/25/japans-hostage-justice-system/denial-bail-coerced-confessions-and-lack-access
Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (UK) – Richard Garside
Prisons policy in England and Wales has taken a “catastrophic direction” since 2010, with prisons at risk of becoming “little more than warehouses of despair, danger and degradation”.
“Not my words, (says Garside) but those of Andrea Albutt, President of the Prison Governors Association, speaking earlier this week to MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Penal Affairs. It was a stark assessment by someone with over thirty years experience working in prisons.” The link reviews the recent history of the lack of proper funding and the deterioration of the prisons over the last 15 years. https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=2727 Related Blog – Russell Webster We detain too many children in police custody for too long – Research examining the impact of PACE on the detention of children in police custody finds them left isolated for many hours. https://www.russellwebster.com/we-detain-too-many-children-in-police-custody-for-too-long/
The Marshall Report – Moses Harper, as told to Nicole Lewis
My Friend Jordan Neely Was Homeless and in Mental Distress. But He Was Not Expendable. Jordan Neely was choked to death on a New York City subway car. Mentor and fellow Michael Jackson enthusiast Moses Harper recalls who he was in life.
The controversy in New York continues as manslaughter charges are pursued but the case also presents opportunity to again assess the understanding of what brings these sorts of choices. Neeley was choked to death apparently on the subway – a public performer of the Michael Jackson Moon Walk. Harper, a professional performer who helped train Neeley reflects on the incident and what it says about our approach to street people. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/05/26/daniel-penny-deadly-chokehold-on-jordan-neely