Posts Tagged ‘corrections’
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
In challenge to Ottawa, judge refuses to impose mandatory sentence
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Feb. 14, 2012
An Ontario Superior Court judge has refused to impose a mandatory three-year sentence on a man caught with a loaded handgun, putting the courts on a collision course with the federal government’s belief in fixed sentences that provide judges with little discretion… Several months ago, in another major challenge in Ontario Superior Court, a similar sentencing provision was upheld in a firearms case, Regina v. Nur. That, combined with the Smickle ruling, could well result in a high-profile appeal that goes all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Harper’s incoherent crime policy
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Feb 14, 2012
it would be easy to miss the real significance of the Prime Minister’s crime policy… It squanders resources that could be used to reduce crime. Making it more difficult for people to get out from under the shadow of their much earlier offences (through a pardon or “record suspension”) makes it harder for millions of Canadians with criminal records to reintegrate into society… it tells us that the government is committed to ignoring evidence about crime, and does not care about whether our criminal-justice system is just and humane.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Justice system should focus more on victims’ rights, not criminals: ombudsman
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Feb 2, 2012
… Noting victims have few legislated rights and entitlements compared to offenders, Sue O’Sullivan called for an “Omnibus Victims’ Bill” to address the lack of access to offender information, meaningful participation at parole hearings and financial support for victims… “restitution is under-utilized and poorly enforced in Canada” where determinations about loss of income or property damages are made at the time of sentencing…
Tags: corrections, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Stephen Harper’s ‘tough-on-crime’ laws are more misguided than ever
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Jan 29 2012
As more Canadians awake to declining crime rates, they will become less tolerant of senseless, ideologically driven justice policy and of bids to garner votes by fear-mongering. Provincial deficits and the prospects of cuts to health and education will reinforce that trend. Canadians might still rank crime as a big concern but it doesn’t top health care. Few will thank any government that closes a hospital to pay for a new prison.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 2 Comments »
Program targets aboriginal issues in justice system
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Jan. 27, 2012
In R v Gladue, the Supreme Court recognized that certain mitigating factors, including aboriginal peoples’ history of dislocation, disadvantage and discrimination, and a range of options should be considered when sentencing them. Despite that ruling, aboriginal offenders today still account for 20 per cent of the federal offender population, even though aboriginal adults represent four per cent of the Canadian population… while Corrections Canada has adopted Gladue principles into their policy documents, evidence of the application of those principles by corrections staff has been lacking.
Tags: corrections, Indigenous, multiculturalism, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Jails don’t keep people out of jail
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
Jan. 05, 2012
The fastest-growing portions of the inmate population continue to be those most marginalized within our society: the mentally ill, women and aboriginals. Decades of reports have detailed our correctional systems’ failure to reasonably address the needs of these offenders and limit their numbers… “There is almost unanimous condemnation of California-style mass incarceration, which has led to no reduction in serious crime and has turned many inmates into habitual criminals”… Our focus and our resources should be directed toward keeping people out of jail, not in it.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Women see the other side
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
Dec 27 2011
The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program allows those in prison who never dreamed of going beyond high school to achieve that seeming impossibility. It is rehabilitative, character-changing and confidence-building. It has been shown to reduce crime and violence. It also engages regular college students in a world they may only have encountered through TV or film and deepens their understanding of social problems. It pushes them to work for changes in their communities to reduce crime and recidivism. Inside-Out is a program that should be emulated in prisons across the country.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, poverty, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Reducing both crime and imprisonment
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Dec 14 2011
First, Canada does have too much crime. Far too many Canadians are victimized and the Department of Justice has recently estimated that the annual cost of crime is $100 billion. Second, victims are not well treated in Canada. Little is spent on victims and there have only been marginal improvements in this over the last several years, no matter which party is in power… the Conservatives are investing only token amounts in actually improving services for victims… increasing penalties and implementing mandatory minimum sentences does little or nothing to reduce crime or make Canada safer.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, featured, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Harper government misguided in its tough-on-crime approach
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Dec. 12, 2011
Canada is heading to that awful place that the United States has just inhabited for 20 years – a place of longer and longer prison sentences, of a futile “war on drugs,” of mandatory minimum sentences for nearly everything (including six months for growing as few as five marijuana plants) that remove judges’ discretion. The financial and social costs in the U.S. were incalculable, and just as the U.S. is coming to its senses, Canada is losing its own.
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Canada’s prisons becoming warehouses for the mentally ill
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Dec. 07, 2011
More than one in 10 men and nearly one in three women held in federal prisons have mental-health problems, according to 2009 figures from the Correctional Service of Canada. Those numbers represent a near-doubling in the total proportion of inmates with mental illnesses between 1997 and 2009… “Psychiatric institutions have been closing over the years, and the mentally ill … have now found that the correctional system has become the institution of last resort”… The problem could intensify once the omnibus crime bill becomes law…
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, mental Health, rights
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments