Smart Justice Network
Jan 12, 2024 – Restorative practices in climate change…
Medriva.com
A Restorative Pathway: The Bold New Approach to Tackling Climate Change
A group of researchers from Oregon State University have a novel but comprehensive plan on how to address climate change: “The proposed restorative pathway is based on the concept of ‘radical incrementalism’, aiming for large-scale transformation through small, manageable steps. Unlike many current strategies, it does not rely on the development of carbon capture technologies or assume continued economic growth. Instead, the pathway emphasizes reducing resource consumption, stabilizing per capita GDP, promoting education for girls and women, and transitioning to renewable energy sources. By doing so, this approach seeks to limit global warming much more effectively than current pathways that support rising resource consumption by wealthy nations.” Despite the current challenges, “the restorative pathway presents an alternative vision for a sustainable and equitable future, emphasizing the need for immediate action and long-term perspective.” https://medriva.com/health/environmental-health/a-restorative-pathway-the-bold-new-approach-to-tackling-climate-change/ University of California Law / Vera (US) – Paradigm To Policy: Transforming Accountability and Public Safety with Restorative Justice (The link offers a free two day virtual seminar on issues around how restorative justice may offer a viable alternative to current criminal legal practices.) https://www.vera.org/events/from-paradigm-to-policy-transforming-accountability
Tweet from Brandi Morin on Edmonton encampment removal: “I am not a criminal. But today I was charged with a criminal offence while doing my job as a journalist documenting the actions of police raiding vulnerable, unhoused, unarmed Indigenous Peoples in their own territories to displace them out of their tent homes & throw their belongings in a dump. I’m pissed that I was impeded from reporting on the incident. I’m pissed about the continual trauma faced by our people; the forcible removal of our people from Native lands & the phony charade of reconciliation. The violence that occurred today is not the answer. I can’t stop thinking about the people whose belongings were ravaged and thrown in dumps today. About the city injunction to sweep these people to the curb as if that will solve the problem. The city does not have a solution, the province doesn’t either. When the officer told the elder today they were going to be ‘forcibly removed’ I thought, ‘same old.’ The land acknowledgments are a joke. Edmonton isn’t the only place this is happening, it’s the aftermath of the greatest injustice that’s ever occurred across Turtle Island. The aftermath of genocide, yet the violence willfully continues. https://x.com/Songstress28/status/1745330649551253654?s=20
Criminological Highlights (Dec 2023) – Anthony Doob and Rosemary Gartner (University of Toronto)
As usual, the Highlights speak to current issues in the criminal legal system: The eight papers that are summarized in this issue address the following questions: 1. How did American news organizations contribute to American mass incarceration? 2. How do many police departments see their relationships to ordinary citizens? 3. Should communities welcome the implementation of “school resource officers” [police attached to ordinary schools]?4. Is the impact of school suspensions the same across racialized groups of students? 5. How do ordinary political affiliations affect ordinary policing? 6. Why do so many people who do not have stable housing have criminal records? 7. Are laws prohibiting employers from asking about the criminal records of job applicants effective in helping this group get jobs? 8. Why is it important, when attempting to control incarceration rates, to look beyond the laws related to sentencing and imprisonment? https://www.crimhighlights.ca/ (May be a slight delay posting the latest) Link to Twitter: https://x.com/CrimHighlights/status/1704516945511403574?s=20 Link to Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto: You can have your own link to this resource: https://www.crimsl.utoronto.ca/
NBC News – by: KIM CHANDLER, Associated Press
Federal judge says Alabama can carry out nation’s 1st execution using nitrogen gas; appeal likely…
The lawyers call it “cruel and experimental” but a federal appeal court has cleared the way for the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith by nitrogen hypoxia on Jan 25, 2024. “The state’s plans call for placing a respirator-type face mask over Smith’s nose and mouth to replace breathable air with nitrogen, causing him to die from lack of oxygen. Three states — Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma — have authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, but no state has attempted to use it so far.” Smith, 58, has survived one attempt to execute him because executioners could not insert the two intravenous lines required to execute him. https://www.kget.com/news/ap-federal-judge-says-alabama-can-carry-out-nations-1st-execution-using-nitrogen-gas-appeal-likely/
CBS News – St Paul, Minnesota
St. Paul, Minnesota, witnessed a historic moment when it welcomed its new city council composed entirely of women. Among the seven council members, six are women of color and all are under the age of 40. Priorities are likely to change! https://x.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1744876056769638794?s=20
CTV News – Jon Woodward
Sentences lowered for kidnappers, shooters and drug traffickers due to conditions at Toronto’s ‘Guantanamo South’
This report on conditions at Toronto’s South Detention Centre is disturbing in more ways than humane treatment concerns. Staff shortages at the 2,000 person maximum security jail have resulted in serious and extended lockdowns, in turn resulting in the practice of reducing sentences for the inhumane conditions. “In the last year, records show at least 24 criminals have had their time in custody reduced because of repeated lockdowns, pest infestations and other harsh treatment at the Toronto South Detention Centre…” Included in the problems are three persons in a cell for two, and persons on remand. Says Justice J. Himmel: “It is warranted that credit be quantified to demonstrate the court’s condemnation of these conditions.” Toronto South is a provincial jail and the responsibility of the Ford government. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/sentences-lowered-for-kidnappers-shooters-and-drug-traffickers-due-to-conditions-at-toronto-s-guantanamo-south-1.6720518 Related article: ABC News – Up-north-live – Cynthia Gould 2nd such case: Inmate’s organs, including brain, missing from decomposing body https://upnorthlive.com/news/nation-world/-brain-missing-autopsy-decomposing-body-2nd-case-revealed-alabama-inmate-body-found-missing-organs-charles-edward-singleton-brandon-dotson-department-corrections-pathology
Law Times News – Angelica Dino
Ontario Human Rights Commission releases report on anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police – The report highlights systemic racial discrimination, profiling, and racism…
This is a final report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) (initiated in 2017) report that brings back a why question on the recent RCMP announcement to keep racial data. There already exists considerable data showing that racism functions very well and prominently in policing. The question is not whether but how to change the proven reality and conceded systemic racism among all types of enforcement agencies. “The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has released its final report, “From Impact to Action,” concluding its inquiry into anti-Black racism within the Toronto Police Service (TPS).” The report files over 100 recs about how to mitigate the problem and change the practices contributing to the racism. “Dr. Scot Wortley, professor at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto, praised the OHRC’s “groundbreaking report.” Dr. Wortley said, “I am cautiously optimistic that, if adopted, the OHRC’s recommendations will help reduce systemic racism, improve public transparency and police oversight, and foster a relationship of trust between the TPS and Toronto’s Black communities.” https://www.lawtimesnews.com/practice-areas/human-rights/ontario-human-rights-commission-releases-report-on-anti-black-racism-by-the-toronto-police/382710?hsmemberId={{contact.hs_object_id}}&utm_source=GA&e=bWptbWFuc2ZpZWxkQGJlbGwubmV0&utm_medium=20240111&utm_campaign=LTW-Newsletter-20240111&utm_content=&tu= Related article: Global News – Talha Hashmani Advantages to collecting race-based data for RCMP, says one Manitoba expert https://globalnews.ca/news/10216751/advantages-race-based-data-rcmp-manitoba-expert/
US Bureau of Prisons – National Prisoner Statistics, [United States], 1978-2022 (ICPSR 38871)
This is the latest on the number of incarcerated persons in the US. https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/studies/38871?utm_content=default&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
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