Aug. 7, 2023 – Halve the violent crime…
Toronto Star – Christian Collington, The Canadian Press
Justice Fund’s Yonis Hassan & Noah “40” Shebib on making Toronto safer for youth
TORONTO – A Toronto-based non-profit with connections to Drake’s record label is partnering with several major city organizations — including the local school board and public transit operator — to address youth safety issues.
The Toronto based Justice Fund co-founders Yonis Hassan and Noah “40” Shebib say they are pointing the way to genuine crime reduction. “The spike of violence that we’ve seen over the last little while is the by-product of lack of investments in our communities and a by-product of a mental health crisis,” Hassan said in an interview at a summit promoting the new partnerships.” The effort has rolled up several specific multi-million grants from several community partnerships for the work and $1 from each Drake tour ticket will go to the fund. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/justice-fund-s-yonis-hassan-noah-40-shebib-on-making-toronto-safer-for-youth/article_b5963e1c-3ce7-5ec5-b2e0-884ab55f491b.html Tweet from Dr. Irwin Waller on the Justice Fund approach: .
@TorontoFdn is rightly dedicated to sustainable solutions to Canada’s violence by investing in youth involved. Will new initiative reach those most involved? will halve violence in 5 years with smart sustained solutions. https://twitter.com/IrvinWaller/status/1688278895756222465?s=20
CBC News
Overdose deaths of 3 inmates to be investigated through inquests: Manitoba medical examiner – Chief medical examiner announces 6 inquests, including investigations into police shooting, patient suicide
There are a number of incarcerated persons dead from overdose in Manitoba’s Stoney Mountain federal prison recently. The usual response is a coroner’s inquest resulting in a number of recs to prevent more deaths; but the preventative recommendations from the inquest jury often lie unanswered and without application. All three – Dwayne Simard, 37; Clinton McGeough, 39; and David Midouin, 28 – were found dead in their cells and autopsies revealed drug toxicity as the immediate cause of death. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/inquests-overdoses-suicide-shooting-1.6928271?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar Tweet from John Howard Society on overdose deaths in prison: “Overdose deaths of 3 inmates to be investigated through inquests: Manitoon overdose deaths in prison by medical examiner: Excellent! Hoping for full cooperation by @CSC_SCC_en + implementation of Coroner’s recommendations to prevent such deaths.” https://twitter.com/JohnHoward_Can/status/1687808983438880768?t=jd6CfwfuZyMBN-rNFFOvlg&s=03) Tweet from CPEP Group (@CPEPgroup) (Criminalization and Punishment Education Project, Ottawa) on Prisoner Justice Day:
For Immediate Release: Community groups organize demonstration against state violence and a vigil to commemorate deaths in custody to honour Prisoners’ Justice Day on August 10th, 2023. Come out next Thursday from 12:00 (noon) to 2:00 PM at the Human Rights Monument. #PJD2023 https://t.co/rApy1zMuo6
(https://twitter.com/CPEPgroup/status/1687238170042081280?t=HSLxMwTg6aIGmxmghrhEjw&s=03 CPEP Promoted petition around recent deaths in provincial custody: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScUh62F8ro7d_RKgTjn-ZvXZHM5_LW4Cijc6Z1-7axuq-EB1g/viewform Related article: The Marshall Project –Closing Argument – Beth Schwartzapfel Federal Judge Eyes a ‘Last Resort’ Fix for New York City’s Jails – Record deaths at Rikers Island may lead to a federal takeover as criticism mounts. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/08/05/new-york-jail-rikers-island-receivership
Blog: National Registry of Exonerations (US) “No-crime exonerations are cases where the exoneree was convicted of a crime that did not occur. In 2022, 59% of the exonerations were cases in which no crime occurred. With your support of MTIP we can continue to fight for justice and accountability to bring the innocent home.” (Note that the organization is suggesting a sizeable proportion of exonerations – 59% – occur where there has been no crime committed.) https://twitter.com/exonerationlist/status/1687549765599322112?s=20
CBC Nova Scotia –Blair Rhodes
Number of cases tossed due to delays hits all-time high in N.S. courts – ‘No one wants to see this happen,’ says justice minister
Already for the year 2023, the number of cases dismissed for failure to have their day in court has surpassed previous records. “The Supreme Court of Canada, in its 2016 Jordan decision, established firm deadlines for dealing with cases. In Youth Court, where the teenager’s trial was held, that deadline is 18 months; the same timeline that exists for matters in provincial court. In superior courts, like the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, that timeline is 30 months.” The problem appears entirely as capacity of the courts. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/courts-jordan-decision-delays-record-high-1.6926695?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar
The Guardian (UK) Long Read – Tahir Hamut Izgil
‘If I left, I’d have to go without a word’: how I escaped China’s mass arrests – When hundreds of my fellow Uyghurs started disappearing into ‘re-education camps’ every day, it became clear that it was only a matter of time before I would be detained. So my wife and I got ready to run
This link is to a sobering reminder of the political freedom choked off in many other countries, including the one currently accused of interfering in Canadian political activities. “Mass arrests had begun in Kashgar. The wave of arrests was so immense that existing detention facilities in the city – police station lockups, prisons, holding centres, labour camps, drug-detox facilities – had been quickly overwhelmed. Within days, numerous schools, government offices and even hospitals had been converted into detention and re-education centres hastily outfitted with iron doors, window bars and barbed wire. Rumours spread that, outside the city, construction was proceeding rapidly on multiple new so-called “study centres”, each meant to house tens of thousands. Fear reigned everywhere. People said the day of judgment had come.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/01/my-escape-from-chinas-mass-arrests-uyghurs-xinjiang-reeducation-camps?utm_term=64ce0f9336ec9ba5bc456918cb062022&utm_campaign=TheLongRead&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=longread_email
The Conversation (Queen’s) – Scott White
The U.S. at a crossroads: How Donald Trump is criminalizing American politics
While Donald J. Trump has been an extra-ordinary event the political life of both the US and Canada, he himself is perhaps no longer the political focus, though Trump may well haunt us more yet. The link for the whole edition of the Conversation is devoted this time to the perplexing issue of why he is able to garner and hold loyal so many people in the face of an attempted insurrection. https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-at-a-crossroads-how-donald-trump-is-criminalizing-american-politics-210946
N.Y. Times – Jordan Gale and Jan Hoffman
Scenes From a City That Only Hands Out Tickets for Using Fentanyl – Oregon’s experiment to curb overdoses by decriminalizing small amounts of illicit drugs is in its third year, and life has changed for most everyone in the city of Portland.
Much has been made of the notion that decriminalizing all drug use will lead to reduction in use and overuse. The link offers a critical review of how the frequently compared Portugal pursued its decriminalization and notes some significant differences likely to derail the Oregon laws from the intended reduction. In fact, early results for the Oregon decision to hand out tickets for Fentanyl say that the choice to decriminalize is not bringing about the expected reductions: overdoses have spiked. The major difference seems to be in Portugal’s follow-up efforts to help people stop. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/health/portland-oregon-drugs.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20230804&instance_id=99211&nl=the-morning®i_id=93173702&segment_id=141083&te=1&user_id=dd5d33ff887d3b559538497917fb3e34 (article includes a photo account of life on the streets.)
The Atlantic – Isabel Fattal
Why So Many Americans Have Stopped Going to Church – The decline is not just about religious institutions; it’s about society itself.
While religion per se is not very often brought into this newsletter, the link may prove a worthwhile reflection on what the consistent reduction of the influence of religion means for our lives. Fattal suggests that we need to understand how American life works – that it does not lend itself to a culture of care for one another. Is Canada far behind? https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/08/why-church-religion-attendance-decline/674916/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20230803&utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily
Toronto Star – Daniel Brown
David Lametti’s legacy as justice minister is worth protecting – It is difficult to ignore an uncomfortable feeling that Lametti’s balanced perspective and refusal to cater to mobs led to his political demise.
Brown, a contributor to the Toronto Star, is reminding us that perhaps what has caused David Lametti’s demise from the justice portfolio in the federal cabinet shuffle is that his was a reasoned and balanced perspective that upset the passionate thirst for harshness and punishment. “Over the course of his five years as minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, Lametti forged a reputation as a reliable steward of his department. Thoughtful and clearly engaged by his portfolio, Lametti tended to take measured steps toward advancing the law. Equally important, he had mostly avoided the temptation to appease outspoken sirens of the political right by gravitating toward senseless and regressive “tough on crime” policies that have proven to be failed experiments in the United States and Canada.” https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/david-lametti-s-legacy-as-justice-minister-is-worth-protecting/article_b4b92dfd-14bf-5ac1-8238-28d03b7f7bb1.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
Prison Journalism Project (US) – Elena Townsend-Lerdo and India Claudy
7 Stories About Extreme Weather From Writers Inside Prison – From intense heat to violent hurricanes, bad weather can have serious consequences for incarcerated people.
This is a handy collection of articles from incarcerated persons and confronting the impact of the scorching hot weather as an incarcerated person. “For incarcerated people, these extreme weather events can make prison life unbearable and, in some cases, lethal. In a report published last fall, environmental epidemiologists at Brown University’s School of Public Health revealed that between 2001 and 2019, a total of 271 prisoners died of heat-related causes in Texas prisons alone.” https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2023/08/03/incarcerated-people-extreme-weather/?mc_cid=8b6361be54&mc_eid=51ba856069 (ED NOTE: the web page for Prison Journalism Project often takes a thematic approach to problems and issues in the criminal legal system: https://prisonjournalismproject.org/ )