March 19, 2013
Vancouver Sun – Peter McKnight
Reform bill puts public safety at risk: Not Criminally Responsible Act will mean mentally ill offenders may instead choose to go to jail where treatment may be inadequate
McKnight offers and an analysis of the new bill in the light of what is already in place and wonders why the charades. “Clearly, this is mere rhetorical sleight of hand, and will do nothing at all to improve public safety,” he says. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Reform+bill+puts+public+safety+risk/8109423/story.html#ixzz2Nu3OK0f6
CBC News – Meaghan Grant
Mental illness puts pressure on police, courts – Diagnosed schizophrenic recalls his run-in with the law
Judge Anne Brown of Calgary thinks about the criminal justice system as a ‘blunt instrument’ inadequate to the task of dealing with petty crimes by people with mental health issues. Says Brown: “I would say that the vast majority of the cases with which I deal on a daily basis involve some aspect of social disorder behaviour or mental illness.” http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/03/17/calgary-mental-health-alberta-justice-story-one.html
Globe and Mail – Kim Mackrael
Q&A: Rob Nicholson defends omnibus crime bill
On the first anniversary of the passage of C-10, Nicholson defends the bill and its impact. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/qa-rob-nicholson-defends-omnibus-crime-bill/article9868674
CBC News
Toews approved TV show filming B.C. immigration raids
Helesia Luke, who has a background in television production and now works with non-profits in Vancouver, just asked for the production agreement from the feds. She got the agreement, signed by Vic Toews, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/03/16/bc-border-security-cbsa-agreement.html
Ottawa Citizen – Douglas Quan, Postmedia News
Unique Canadian program to train police to deal with mentally ill people promising, study finds
University of Alberta’s Peter Silverstone, a psychiatrist in the university’s faculty of medicine, is the lead on a promising study of how to train police in dealing more effectively with incidents involving mental health issues. http://www.canada.com/Unique+Canadian+program+train+police+deal+with+psychiatric+situations+promising+study+finds/8115435/story.html#ixzz2Nw9S0onj
10TV.com (Central Ohio) – Michael Brick
Youth justice struggles to address mental health
Texas lawmakers are looking for ways to confront the school-to-prison pipeline. The effort involves removing criminal sanctions for youthful behaviour. http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/apexchange/2013/03/18/-tx-xgr–school-to-prison.html
QMI Agency – Jessica Murphy
Tory MP proposes bill to tackle gang recruitment
Brampton (ON) Tory backbencher Parm Gill has introduced a private member’s bill to make a criminal offence the recruitment of someone into a gang membership, punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/archives/2013/03/20130318-180113.html