Smart Justice Network
Jan 21, 2024 – Nunavut Justice…
Nunavut Government
Restorative Justice Diversion Program
It may be helpful to know in the light of the political developments towards becoming a province that the principles of restorative justice are well set up for Nunavut, elders, and youth. This link offers an insight on the operations of the Community Justice Model with outreach workers and committee participation. “The role of the Community Justice Committee is to reconcile the person who committed the crime with those who are affected by crime and the community stakeholders utilizing restorative approach and Inuit Societal Values to repair the harm and restore the harmony in the community…Each community in Nunavut has a Community Justice Committee, which are representative of all ages, with special regard for Youth and Elders in each community.” Restorative Justice Diversion Program | Government of Nunavut
Toronto Police Budget presentation – Jan 18, 2024
Toronto Police Service Chief Administrative Officer Svina Dhaliwal and Dr. Dubi Kanengisser, Executive Director of the TPS Board, presented to the City’s Budget Committee the risks and service shortfalls associated with the proposed police budget cuts. 1.7 % increase requested – $20 million above the budget for 2023. Transcript of the presentation accompanies the YouTube video of 34 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuy9T_aoYvw Related video: Chief Myron Demkiw Addresses Toronto City Council Budget Committee Re: @TorontoPolice Budget https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuy9T_aoYvw (8 minute video response to expectation of a $12.6 cut on 2023 budget) Related article: Abacus Data Worth-a-look – David Coletto Perceptions about crime and public safety drive support for increasing spending on the police in Toronto Police, Police Services Funding, and the Public (mailchi.mp)
Toronto Star – Jim Rankin
8 years after tossed conviction, Toronto mom Cindy Ali is found not guilty in death of disabled daughter – Toronto mother Cindy Ali has been found not guilty in the sudden death of her severely disabled daughter in a verdict — met with applause in a packed courtroom Friday morning — that brings to an end a prosecution that spanned two trials and more than a decade.
It took eight years and persistence for defense lawyer James Lockyer to get a retrial before a judge alone after a jury decided Cindy Ali had not invented a home invasion to contextualize the murder of her disabled daughter, nor had she used the incident to her advantage in a mercy killing. “At Ali’s successful appeal, Lockyer and Zita argued her jury had been “straitjacketed” into a decision that wrongly resulted in a conviction and automatic life sentence… The appeal court found that motive “so meagre” and “speculative” that the judge should not have left that with the jury as a possibility.” Toronto mom Cindy Ali not guilty in daughter’s death (thestar.com)
KQED (San Mateo, CA) Holly McDede
Police Pilot New Tactics for People with Dementia as Advocates Urge Compassion
The link describes what training a typical police officer gets for dealing with persons with disability. In this case, the presenting disability is dementia in several older persons. The older incidents prompted a review of the police action and attempts at legislative changes in the approach. The San Mateo police department launched a 45 min video for training, hired an advisor on dementia, and launched a blue tag register of people with dementia with adequate information and address alerts for the houses. Project Guardian, as the police have named the policy, also is useful in the case of people with dementia who wander. Police Pilot New Tactics for People with Dementia as Advocates Urge Compassion | KQED
Tweet from Brandi Morin on police violence: “We live in a generation that has been forced to obtain justice from police violence & misconduct through body cam footage. Too often that justice is denied and delayed; and way too often people are injured or killed. Police brutality against Indigenous Peoples in this country is high. An Indigenous person in Canada is more than ten times more likely to have been shot and killed by a police officer than a white person in Canada. As a journalist, especially considering I cover Indigenous stories, it’s my job to document police actions against vulnerable citizens. Last week when @edmontonpolice moved to forcibly remove an Indigenous homeless encampment I was on scene to document. That’s when I was arrested & charged with Obstruction. No, I did not break the law, I was doing my job.” https://x.com/Songstress28/status/1748037082503905686?s=20 Related article: Global News – Breanna Karstens-Smith Edmonton police commission meeting interrupted by advocates angry with encampment response Edmonton police commission meeting interrupted by advocates angry with encampment response – Edmonton | Globalnews.ca
The Marshall Project – Life Inside – LaMarr W. Knox
How the Police and Vigilante Killings of Black People Have Forced Me to Look Inside – It feels hypocritical to reserve my rage for the men who killed Tyre Nichols and Trayvon Martin when I, too, have taken Black lives.
Listen to the mournful reflection of one still incarcerated after twenty-nine years and who also killed Black people: “When the killings of Black men like Tyre Nichols and boys like Trayvon Martin play out in the public, I can’t help but feel mixed emotions — anger, confusion, regret, and remorse. Some may think it’s strange to compare myself to rogue cops and vigilantes like Zimmerman, but we all have different lived experiences, and lessons come in different forms… I’ve spent many nights staring at the ceiling with my fingers interlocked behind my head, thinking about the night I senselessly killed two men. I used to rationalize my actions by saying that a gun was flashed on me and that I was shot, too.” https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/01/19/tyre-nichols-trayvon-martin-collective-pain
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