Posts Tagged ‘corrections’
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Crime, victim
Friday, June 29th, 2012
June 29, 2012
Research by the Centre for Race and Culture indicates that immigrants and non-white people (racialized) do not commit more crime than mainstream Canadians with similar life circumstances… Crime is higher for those who are unemployed, have low levels of education, come from single parent families, or live in poverty. These are all exacerbated by the discrimination that immigrant, refugee, and aboriginal people experience. Why do racialized people consistently receive a lower quality of education, and have a more difficult time finding employment and income levels that are commensurate with their education and experience?
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, immigration, Indigenous, multiculturalism, poverty
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Canada’s bail system is working just fine
Monday, June 18th, 2012
Jun 17, 2012
Reasonable bail is a right guaranteed to all Canadians by our constitution… Only when release is opposed by the Crown is a bail hearing held… Since bail hearings take place shortly after arrest, and often before police investigations are complete, much that is said in a bail hearing later turns out to be false. Justices of the Peace on bail hearings have to work with limited and contradictory information; it is hardly surprising that errors are occasionally made.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | 1 Comment »
No more second chances for offenders in Ontario
Saturday, June 9th, 2012
Jun 07 2012
Last year, approximately 75,000 prisoners were released into Ontario’s population. The number will climb when Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s multi-part crime bill, approved in March, is fully implemented. Approximately half of these newly released inmates will come out of jail with mental health or addiction problems. A third will be homeless. Many won’t know how to apply for welfare, cook for themselves, navigate the social service system, replace lost identity documents or manage their anger. Most won’t have the skills they need to get a job… Now the province must pay the price:
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
‘Time and punishment’ now Canada’s way
Saturday, May 19th, 2012
May. 18, 2012
Corrections – the idea that those in prison might be assisted while incarcerated to be better prepared for life outside jail – is apparently foreign to the Harper government. Instead, it wants to put more people away for longer, then, figuratively speaking, throw away the key. Punishment is in; correction is out. Just when you think this government’s criminal justice policies, which have been almost universally denounced by experts in the field, can’t get worse, they do.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 1 Comment »
Tories to double, make mandatory $100-200 surcharge for convicted criminals
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
Apr 24, 2012
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson introduced legislation Tuesday that, if passed, would require convicts to pay an additional 30% on any fine imposed by the courts. If no fine is imposed, they will automatically be charged $100 for a summary conviction or $200 for an indictable offence. The fines are generally collected and retained by provincial and territorial governments to help cover the cost of programs and services for victims of crime. Sentencing judges are currently able to waive the surcharge should an offender demonstrate it would cause undue hardship — the new bill will also put an end to that.
Tags: corrections, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Special consideration for aboriginals in the courts is a matter of fairness
Friday, April 20th, 2012
Apr. 20, 2012
Proportionality between the offence and the punishment is a traditional and, indeed, fundamental purpose of sentencing. It applies to all offenders. Many may have preferred the three-year sentence and that, if errors are made, they be made on the side of public safety. But where does this argument stop? Indeterminate detention would eliminate more risk. But it is fundamental in a democracy that people be sentenced for what they have done – not what they may do.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
The wrong answer to aboriginal overincarceration
Friday, April 6th, 2012
Apr. 05, 2012
Handing young aboriginal men and women a stay-out-of-jail card in cases of serious violence is a mistaken answer to the problem of overincarceration of aboriginal people in Canada. It puts one wrong in place of another… There is no doubt that the overrepresentation of aboriginal people in provincial and federal jails is a calamity for the country, for aboriginals and for the individuals behind bars… In the Louie case, having an aboriginal mother protected him from being held fully accountable for committing a violent crime.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, Indigenous
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Tories use majority to pass omnibus crime bill
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
Mar 12, 2012
Comprised of nine bills, many of which failed to pass in previous Parliaments when the Conservatives had a minority, C-10 also cracks down on pot producers, young offenders, Canadians imprisoned abroad who are seeking a transfer to a Canadian institution and ex-cons seeking a pardon. It also provides for victims of terrorism who are seeking to sue the perpetrator and eliminates house arrest for a number of different crimes, something Canada’s budget watchdog estimated will cost the provinces $145 million a year.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology, participation
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Learning a lesson from America’s failed war on drugs
Friday, February 24th, 2012
Feb 23, 2012
… we need tougher sentences for repeat offenders and truth-in-sentencing provisions (no more get-out-of-jail-free cards after serving 1/3 of an already lenient sentence). But giving pot growers harsher sentences than child rapists is unconscionable, and shows that the law is completely devoid of any moral relevancy… learn a lesson from the experience in the United States, and do away with the mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes, including marijuana offences.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Don’t adopt U.S.-style drug laws, groups warn Conservative government
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Feb 22 2012
As the Conservatives’ massive crime bill nears its final stages of parliamentary approval, a Canadian group of judges, lawyers, and policy advisers has emerged to urge a “smarter” approach to tackling crime. Calling itself the “Smarter Justice Network,” the group publicly stepped forward on a day that a similar but unrelated American group released an open letter urging the Canadian government to avoid mandatory jail terms for drug crimes that have been a “costly failure” in the United States.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, featured, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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