June 11, 2018
New York Times (US) – David Bornstein
A Growing Drive to Get Homelessness to Zero
Nine US communities have reached “functional zero” around homeless veterans and chronically homeless persons. Rockford, Illinois, is the first to achieve the measure for veterans and the second for general homelessness. It’s simple says Jennifer Jaeger, the city’s community services director. “Every person who is homeless in our community that we are aware of goes on our by-name list, which is broken out by subpopulations: chronic, veteran, family, single and youth…Then we get everybody in our community who works on the issue, whether it’s veteran or chronic or youth homelessness, and we bring them into a room,” she added. “So if we’re working on veterans, we’ll have the V.A., the local veteran agencies, mental health agencies and substance abuse agencies, and we’ll sit down with the list and say: ‘O.K., John Smith is No. 1. Who’s working with him? How do we get him housed as fast as we can?’ And we go literally name by name. It makes a huge difference because they stop being ‘the homeless’ and become people we all know. And we become very vested in making sure John Smith is housed and safe and has the services he needs to stay housed.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/opinion/homelessness-built-for-zero.html Related article: CBC News – Sarah Lawrynuik Medicine Hat maintaining homeless-free status 2 years on http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/medicine-hat-homeless-free-update-1.3949030
Toronto Star – Amy Dempsey
Ontario coroner to review undetected homicides — all the way back to Tammy Homolka
‘Concealed homicides’ is the latest pre-occupation for the Ontario coroner – that is, homicides that first appeared and were classified as natural or accidental. The probe is prompted by the triple deaths of members of the Harrison family but the investigation goes back to 1990 and the death of Tammy Homolka, the sister and victim of Karla Homolka and her partner Paul Bernardo. The victims of serial killer Elizabeth Wettlaufer will fall under review as well. https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/canada/2018/06/08/ontario-coroner-to-review-undetected-homicides-all-the-way-back-to-tammy-homolka.html?__twitter_impression=true
CBC News (Edmonton)
Edmonton prison guards discussed violent sex fantasies involving female colleagues, transcripts show
Recent tensions in the Edmonton Institution have revealed a seriously flawed gender relationships in the workplace. The lawsuit started in March when four women guards laid complaints, now has six complainants, and is directed against both Corrections Canada and the Guards union. “Recently filed court documents paint a disturbing picture of a workplace where female correctional officers were regularly propositioned for sex, harassed and assaulted by their male colleagues, and dehumanized through vulgar nicknames and graphic sexual conversations that male correctional officers had about them.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/canada/edmonton-prison-guards-discussed-violent-sex-fantasies-involving-female-colleagues-transcripts-show/ar-AAyo7cq?ocid=st
National Crime Prevention Strategy – 2018 Call for Applications
The NCPS’ priorities for the 2018 Call for Applications are direct intervention and strengthening community readiness projects among Indigenous and vulnerable populations to prevent or reduce the impacts of the following crime issues on communities: Youth gangs; Youth violence; Youth bullying; and Youth cyberbullying. The Call for Applications is open from June 6, 2018 until July 31, 2018 11:59 pm (PST) For more information and to apply for funding, please go to: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/cntrng-crm/crm-prvntn/fndng-prgrms/ntnl-crm-prvntn-strtg/index-en.aspx
US Bureau of Prisons – Mariel Alper, Ph.D., Matthew R. Durose, BJS Statisticians, Joshua Markman, former BJS Statistician
2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism: A 9-Year Follow-up Period (2005-2014)
The report looks at a nine year period following release and analyzes the type of offense or crime for the arrest and the time lines relating to those new offences. Executive Summary https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/18upr9yfup0514_sum.pdf Full Report: http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6266&utm_source=juststats&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=may18review
World Economic Forum (Davos) – Adam Jezard
The 3 key skill sets for the workers of 2030
With all the strife and tension around the prospect for good paying jobs in the near future, and what will be required of those who would be employable, Jezard suggests the breakdown of the global workforce and delineates the type of changes that are taking place while looking to 2030. The already engaged process towards automation offers five categories for analysis and the report places work skills into five distinct categories: physical and manual; basic
cognitive; higher cognitive; social and emotional; and technological. Jezard adds an interesting comparison basis: hours worked in the past year (2016). -2030/ Related article: World Economic Forum – Gudela Grote and Thomas A Kochan Here’s how we can make innovation more inclusive https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/here-s-how-we-can-make-innovation-more-inclusive/
Toronto Star – Editorial (June 8, 2918)
How to stop gun violence in Toronto
The Editorial board is reading some signs that suggest that Toronto may be heading into another ‘year of the gun;’ the trending in this year says that we are already beyond the worst year in 2005. One option is more police; the other is to return to the gun / violence prevention according to the proven Glasgow model and to adequate fund it. “The three keys to the program’s success, according to Britain’s Guardian newspaper, are a zero-tolerance warning to gang members from police, a powerful and inspirational message from a community leader, and a pledge from social agencies and charities that if youths do renounce violence they can get help with education, training and job-finding.” https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2018/06/08/how-to-stop-gun-violence-in-toronto.html
PBS – Megan Thompson
Schools resolve conflicts by getting kids to talk things out
“Schools across the country are moving away from an era of zero-tolerance policies and shifting toward methods that involve restorative justice, encouraging students to resolve their differences by talking to each other rather than resorting to violence. In New York City, five schools that have implemented this system are already seeing results. Schools resolve conflicts by getting kids to talk things out.” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/schools-resolve-conflicts-by-getting-kids-to-talk-things-out (Link is a video but also supplies a trans-script.)
CBC News – Murray Brewster
Military will restrict members’ marijuana use — but won’t ban it completely – ‘You just can’t ban it outright,’ says Lt.-Gen. Chuck Lamarre
The Canadian military appears to be coming to a position around the use of marijuana by the Forces. One presumes that Bill C-45 will shortly make possession legal. The military has been studying the issue for some time and has a draft policy using an enhanced version of the guidelines for the use of alcohol. “The current military policy has a zero tolerance for drugs but it also has a long-established drug testing policy for “safety-sensitive” positions.” Expectations are the current testing policy will remain. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/armed-forces-marijuana-policy-1.4698749