Posts Tagged ‘corrections’
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Tough guys
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
July 19, 2011
The Conservative government suggests its crime bill will be “tougher on youthful offenders.” It’s hard to imagine how anyone could make things tougher for the young men I’ve spoken with. More than half have had contact with the Children’s Aid Society. Nearly one-third have been removed from their families and/or been made a ward of the court. Most have substance abuse problems or mental health issues. Many come from a background of poverty and violent neighbourhoods… a sentence of custody… should be reserved for the most serious of crimes and serious of offenders.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, mental Health, youth
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Young criminals in Canada victims of federal legislation
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Jul. 18, 2011
Canada incarcerates more convicted youth than almost any similarly industrialized country. And new federal crime legislation is poised to drive those numbers higher, even though imprisoned teens are statistically less likely to get jobs after they’re released and, if anything, are more likely to reoffend. Years after enacting laws that have been successful in reducing youth incarceration rates, Canada still sends five times more of its convicted teens into custody than England and Wales… At the crux of the debate is how to treat Canada’s youngest criminals
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
System failed mentally ill teen
Monday, July 18th, 2011
July 18, 2011
If this were an isolated tragedy, it would be reasonable to hope the inquest into his death would prevent other young people with mental illness from suffering the same fate. But an eerily similar inquest is being conducted into the death of Ashley Smith, a 19-year-old with a history of mental illness, who strangled herself in a Kitchener prison a year earlier. And both investigations come at a time when mental health providers are pleading with all three provincial party leaders to address the urgent need to get children and youth into treatment.
Tags: corrections, mental Health, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Crime and punishment: Inside the Tories’ plan to overhaul the justice system
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
May 21, 2011
The Conservative government’s omnibus crime legislation, due ‘‘within 100 days,’’ will mark a watershed moment in Canadian legal history… The bill is sweeping in scale and scope: It is expected to usher new mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.. It will expand police powers online without court orders, reintroduce controversial aspects of the Anti-Terrorism Act that expired in 2007, end house arrest for serious crimes, and impact young offenders and their privacy.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Drug prohibition is dumb on crime
Sunday, May 15th, 2011
May 14, 2011
… a recent World Health Organization study demonstrated that tough drug laws do not translate into stemming drug use… despite the strict mandatory minimum-sentencing regimes that exist in many states, the United States has among the highest lifetime rates of drug use… cutting drug supply by taking a drug dealer off the street will have the perverse effect of making it that much more profitable for new players to get into the market… gun violence… often occurs when remaining gangs fight over the new economic opportunity that police have unwittingly created.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Harm reduction on trial
Thursday, May 12th, 2011
May 11 2011
Today… Federal government lawyers will be in the court to present their case to shut down Insite, Vancouver’s supervised injection site for people who inject drugs…. To Ontario residents, there is no doubt such sites do improve health while reducing the spread of disease in the community and improving public order in the neighbourhood. To citizens who say the money should be invested in treatment facilities instead of supervised injection services — we need both. Each is along the continuum of health-care responses to injection drug use.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, Health, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
PM must listen to will of the majority
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
May 04 2011
His government carries far more seats than it does a percentage of Canadian support… 86 per cent support a strengthening of public health care over a switch to a system of both public and private health care… His mandate is not to protect the oil sands regardless of their impact on the earth. His mandate is not to continue defunding of women’s advocacy groups or international aid. His mandate is not to Americanize copyright law, political party funding, military spending and our legal system, or to give tax breaks for corporations at the expense of inner city literacy.
Tags: budget, corrections, ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Where delusional does not equal criminal
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
April 29, 2011
There’s more than one way to dispense justice. The best, for some offenders with psychiatric disorders, is to keep them out of the courtroom altogether. Mental health court is already very different in its approach, with Crown attorneys, defence lawyers and judges working together to try to keep low-risk offenders out of the criminal justice system. Rather than punishment, the court seeks to offer them the support they need to get their lives back on track.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, disabilities, mental Health
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Why do freedom fighters yearn for locks and keys?
Monday, April 11th, 2011
Apr 11 2011
…isn’t [it] a bit simplistic to divide society into “good folk” and “bad folk” and then try to consign the baddies to perdition for ever more?… the chance to get out on parole is essential… First, prisoners who can’t earn their way out early have nothing to gain by showing respect for the prison system, and lack of respect puts guards’ safety in jeopardy. Second, prisoners who serve full sentences don’t report to parole officers. I have watched parole officers in action. They are often able to keep ex-cons on the straight and narrow out there in the real world, and that is what we want, isn’t it?
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
What are Canadians really afraid of when it comes to crime?
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Apr. 09, 2011
Again and again – at least 16 times between 1956 and 2003 – knowledgeable and brain-studded parliamentary committees have concluded that where sentences and jail time are concerned, “preference should be given to the least restrictive alternative” (1982) because (1993) “costly repressive measures … fail to deter crime.”… So the Harper government’s stance defies not just evidence but half a century of Canadian intellectual tradition… Tough-on-crime sentiment may be difficult to justify logically, but it is easy to feel. The question is, why has it become seductive to more and more of us?
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, featured, ideology
Posted in Child & Family History | 2 Comments »
Recent Comments