March 22, 2013
CBC News – Canadian Press
Provinces bear rising justice costs, budget watchdog finds – Cost of jails, courts and policing up 23% in last decade, amid drop in crime rate
Dismissed Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page has a final report showing that 73% of the cost of criminal justice – $15 billion of a total of $20.3 billion, including federal and provincial jails, court costs and policing – is born by provincial governments. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/03/20/pol-cp-pbo-criminal-justice-expenditures-report.html
Catholic News Service – Carol Glatz
Pope Francis changes Holy Thursday plans to celebrate Mass in prison
The papal liturgy involves the celebration of the Eucharist and the washing of the feet of 12 inmates of Casal del Marmo youth detention centre. The decision departs from practices of recent popes but is in keeping with the pope’s Argentinean pastoral approach. http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1301316.htm
Winnipeg Free Press – Debra Parkes
‘The hole’ is hell for prisoners
Over 80% of those in solitary in Canada’s federal prisons, about 850 prisoners on any given day, are there for ‘administrative reasons.’ Increasingly, torture experts and monitors around prison conditions are convinced of lasting psychological from solitary. There are few records to indicate the level of the practice in Canada’s provincial jails. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/the-hole-is-hell-for-prisoners-199303881.html
Blogger Livio diMatteo
Crime and Police
A University of Thunder Bay professor of economics offers some comments about the relationship between the number of police officers and level of crime based on the latest Stats Canada report. http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2013/03/crime-and-police.html Full Stats Canada Report: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-225-x/2011000/part-partie1-eng.htm
London Community News (ON) –
London second in nation for severity of crime
The article compares the crime severity rate (CSR) and the clearance rates for crime in cities with over 100,000 population. Stats are based on a March 20, 2013 report from Statistics Canada and apply to 2011. http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/news-story/2510348-london-second-in-nation-for-severity-of-crime
Global News – Caley Ramsay
City council approves $1 million in EPS funding for prisoner transfer
With a new and more distant remand center, Edmonton Police Service has an extra $1 million to transfer prisoners. http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/city+council+approves+1+million+in+eps+funding+for+prisoner+transfer/6442832457/story.html
Conferences:
Canadian Criminal Justice Association (CCJA) – Congress
21st Century Justice – The Economics of Public Safety
October 2-5, 2013 – Vancouver, BC For the tentative program: http://www.ccja-acjp.ca/cong2013/program2013.pdf
Transforming Communities (Ottawa)
Trauma and Corrections
Tuesday, March 26th 9.30AM – Noon St. Margaret’s Anglican Church, 206 Montreal Rd