Smart Justice Network:
Dec. 16, 2023 – Carding…
Toronto Star – Jim Rankin and Wendy Gillis
Toronto police used ‘carding’ far more than other forces, stopping Black people three times as often as white residents: Human Rights report – The long-awaited report by the Ontario Human Rights Commission examines police carding practices from 2008 to 2013, including data from more than two million street checks.
This practice is one that has repeatedly been proven as ineffective and offensive to good police / community relations, at least in Toronto where from 2008-2013 the practice gets its most frequent use and mostly towards minority populations. The long-delayed HUMAN rights report re-enforces what was suspected all along: “Black people in Toronto were subject to police street checks — or carding — at a rate three times higher than white people, and the overall use of the police practice of stopping, questioning and documenting residents in non-criminal encounters was many times higher in Toronto than in other major Ontario cities.” The Human Rights Commissions report also concedes that Black people also are over-represented in use-of-force incidents. What’s at stake: “The report includes more than 100 recommendations, which the commission hopes will be made “legally binding,” a move, if accepted by police and the Toronto Police Services Board, that would make the recommendations enforceable.” https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/toronto-police-used-carding-far-more-than-other-forces-stopping-black-people-three-times-as/article_ba47f9d2-9911-11ee-8208-33b598b247b8.html?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=404CAADEF7EB839FC77B1B04F0C251E1&utm_campaign=bn_205463
The Marshall Project (US) Life Inside – Alysia Santo and Joseph Neff
How We Investigated Abusive Prison Guards Getting Their Jobs Back in New York – The Marshall Project analyzed 12 years of arbitration cases that involved officers committing abuse or covering it up. ‘A Crazy System’: How Arbitration Returns Abusive Guards to New York Prisons
The link is an illustration of how the authors accumulated and analyzed the data that exposed a nasty truth: many N.Y. state prison guards fired for cause were able to achieve re-instatement through union reaction and cover-up. The cases for firing “…mostly involved allegations of physical abuse of incarcerated people and coverups by front-line security staff, but also included withholding food, setting up one prisoner for a beating by others, or framing them for misconduct, among other allegations.” The authors built a database of these incidents and offer an analysis. Between 2010 and 2022, three of four fired for such offences were re-hired. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/12/14/new-york-prison-guard-arbitration-how-we-investigated
Energy-Mix (Canada) – Mitchell Beer
Breaking News: Appeals court allows youth lawsuit against Canadian climate policy…
The lawsuit by 15 Canadian youth argued that the present policy violates Sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter. First rejected by a Federal Court in October of 2020 because the lawsuit “did not have a reasonable chance of success, a federal Appeals court has allowed the lawsuit under Section 7 while denying it under Section 15. The lawsuit seeks a scientific based recovery plan from the government which is “violating their rights to life, liberty, and security of the person under section 7 of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for failing to protect essential public trust resources.” The federal Court panel has accepted that a trial is proper way to determine the issues under Section 7. The opinion by Justice Donald J. Rennie rejected the section 15 claim but agreed that the issues the youth raised under section 7 of the Charter should be settled in a trial, not dismissed before they could be fully heard… He (Rennie)reached the same conclusion in a case brought by the Dini Ze’, or head chiefs, of two Wet’suwet’en House groups, asserting that climate change poses a “threat to their identity, to their culture, to their relationship with the land and the life on it, and to their food security.” https://www.theenergymix.com/breaking-appeals-court-allows-youth-lawsuit-against-canadian-climate-policy/
Government of Canada – Public Services and Procurement Canada on building prisons: “It’s not every day that a building is constructed in the shape of a soaring eagle, especially when that’s only one of its unique features. A new Indigenous Programs Building at a correctional institution in Quebec incorporates many elements of significance to First Nations, to support Indigenous inmates on their rehabilitation journey.” https://www.canada.ca/en/public-services-procurement/corporate/stories/indigenous-programs.html and in response: Tweet from Jeffrey Bradley on prison architecture for Indigenous people: ”Carceral expansion by appropriating Indigenous cultural symbols and practices. Isn’t it disgusting that prisons with cages are viewed as sites for healing? This is a violent and oppressive prison system using money to further legitimize its existence.” https://x.com/Jeffrey_Brad/status/1735373905831858553?s=20 Tweet from Justin Piché on imprisoned eagles: Never thought I’d see a prisonized eagle. For anyone interested in recent prison infrastructure projects involving Indigenization efforts, check-out “The front and back stages of carceral expansion marketing in Canada” by @CarceralCulture . https://x.com/JustinPicheh/status/1735416483021312343?s=20
Prison Journalism Project (US)
PJP’s Favorite Stories of 2023 – Prison Journalism Project staff and board members share the stories they loved best this year.
The Project aims to encourage people incarcerated to write about their experiences in prison. The link offers five that the editors think the best liked of this year’s offerings. “Looking back at the stories published in 2023 by Prison Journalism Project, it was hard not to notice certain themes — of perseverance, ingenuity, creativity and self-improvement. Every day, editors at PJP are privileged to read about the sometimes incredible examples of human spirit demonstrated by people living behind bars.” https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2023/12/15/prison-writing-best/?utm_source=Prison+Journalism+Project+Inside+Story+Subscribers&utm_campaign=b07a76df90-InsideStory_Dec17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-d92eab52de-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=b07a76df90&mc_eid=51ba856069
The Sentencing Project (US) – Ashley Nellis and Niki Monazzam
Left to Die in Prison: Emerging Adults 25 and Younger Sentenced to Life without Parole
Much of social thinking and research around the age of the capacity for mature decision-making has come back to age 25. This assessment then becomes alarming: two of every five sentenced to Life Without Parole were under 26 from 1995 – 2017, a total of 11, 600 persons. “The identification of full criminal accountability at age 18 ignores the important, distinct phase of human development referred to as emerging adulthood, also known as late adolescence or young adulthood. Compelling evidence shows that most adolescents are not fully matured into adulthood until their mid-twenties.” Again, the stats show disproportionate Black youth. https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/left-to-die-in-prison-emerging-adults-25-and-younger-sentenced-to-life-without-parole/ (A downloadable pdf with an executive summary)
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