April 23, 2014
Toronto Star – Amy Dempsey
How does a family cope when one member — in the midst of a psychotic episode — kills another?
At age 23, (now 35), Michael Stewart killed his mother. He was found NCR with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. But how does father and husband David, and two brothers and sister cope with the devastation that saw a bright and friendly sibling become capable of rage and violence directed at June, his mother. Michael “asked his father for forgiveness. “I forgive what you’ve done, but it wasn’t you,” David told him. It’s not the Michael that grew up in our house. It was the sick Michael. But if you want me to forgive you, I forgive you.” This is a powerful article for all interested in the NCR and RJ. http://projects.thestar.com/what-michael-stewart-did
CBC News
Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter and Steven Truscott refused to be ‘condemned by history’
The recent death of Carter prompted this opinion piece recalling the similarities between Carter, a boxing champion falsely convicted of murder, and Steven Truscott, a Canadian youth also falsely convicted. Both spent a long time in jail before they were released in recognized miscarriages of justice. Both men became “powerful symbols in the United States and Canada of a justice system gone awry.” http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rubin-hurricane-carter-and-steven-truscott-refused-to-be-condemned-by-history-1.2616843 Related article: Toronto Star Editorial Rubin “Hurricane” Carter leaves a champion’s legacy http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2014/04/21/rubin_hurricane_carter_leaves_a_champions_legacy_editorial.html
Associated Press – Postmedia News
Kentucky inmate starves himself to death; doctor fired, hunger strike rules rewritten – ‘How do you just watch a man starve to death?’
James Kenneth Embry, 57, with three years to go on a nine year sentence, stopped taking anti-anxiety medication in the spring of 2013 and seven months later began to bang his head on the walls and doors, refusing to eat and losing 30 pounds. He was refused the medications when he requested in December to have the meds again. The article is a disturbing view of the way the lack of mental health care intersects with prison. http://www.canada.com/news/world/Kentucky+inmate+starves+himself+death+doctor+fired+hunger/9761012/story.html
IT Pro Portal (UK) – Paul Cooper
Criminal gangs use drones to find cannabis farms. Guess what happens next?
Here’s a story with filled with high tech. Gangs in England are using drones to scout out the patches of marijuana growing in the fields and then raiding it for distribution. The illegal cannabis farms use heat lamps to grow the crop and the drones pick up the heat. http://www.itproportal.com/2014/04/22/criminal-gangs-using-drones-find-cannabis-farms-and-then-rob-them/#ixzz2zd5bvNWW
NoOffense – The Criminal Justice Network (UK)
» ‘We shook hands… I got upset and started crying. Then Glenn broke down’
This article focuses on an offender-victim encounter coming seven years after the violent incident that saw serious physical injury done to the victim. Glen Jackson and Shad Ali met when Jackson was still in prison and authorities allowed a film to be made of the meeting. http://www.no-offence.org/news-item/248-we-shook-hands-i-got-upset-and-started-crying-then-glenn-broke-down
The Guardian – University of California, San Diego – Nico Hemsley
Poverty Is a Wound, Not an Enemy
Here’s a timely reflection on how mental constructs may impact our response to social problems. Hemsley says that metaphors around a problem like poverty can persuade us that solutions following the metaphor are the only solutions available and that the metaphor will shape our collective response. If we think of poverty as an enemy rather than a wound to be healed, we may persuade ourselves that distance and “wars” are needed. The same phenomenon occurs when we think of crime as a virus. http://ucsdguardian.org/?p=17675