Heidi Riedner At least 3 per cent of convicted murderers in prison are innocent, according to one of the country’s most prominent social justice activists. “That’s a lot of people in Canadian prisons for murders they didn’t commit,” lawyer James...
Read MoreSamantha McAleese In January 2016, Public Safety Ministry Ralph Goodale told CBC news that reforming the Criminal Records Act would be a priority for the newly elected Liberal government. He, along with many others, agreed that the elimination of Canada’s...
Read MoreI.M. GRENADA “Well?” My question pounces with all the subtlety of the Spanish Inquisition. Its target, my 62 year-old cell-dwelling neighbour, Gaton (name changed to protect identity), had just returned from 2 hours and 40 minutes of cerebral ping pong...
Read MoreLorna Poplak Since the mid-1800s, the Don Jail has left its stamp on the skyline, and the psyche, of Toronto. Over the years it developed a fearsome reputation as a dehumanizing snake pit where tuberculosis and other diseases caused by...
Read MorePrisoners have a lot of useful things to say, even if they are rarely asked, about how to improve the criminal justice system. Here’s a slightly edited version of a good recent example: October 19, 2017 (Algonquin Territory / Ottawa)...
Read MoreA previous post referenced the important work done by the Office of the Correctional Investigator, which gives an outside perspective on the state and problems of federal prisons in Canada. The previous Correctional Investigator, Howard Sapers, is now leading an...
Read MoreThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Patricia Jansen, Mo Korchinski, Ruth Elwood Martin, all from the University of British Columbia “What I have done is not who I am. Most of us are emotionally...
Read MoreWe have a lot of data showing that Indigenous and Black people are the subjects of unfair treatment throughout the criminal justice system, from contact with police to sentencing and parole. That evidence is well summarized in a recent (2014)...
Read MoreThere is much evidence that the likelihood of being arrested for or charged with a crime is affected by skin colour, location, and other factors. This post illustrating that inequality is drawn from a Toronto Star feature on July 6,...
Read MoreAnnamaria Enenajor The colossal failure of Canada’s “war on drugs” is a key reason that the federal government has proposed to replace prohibition with legalizing and regulating the production, distribution and sale of cannabis (Bill C45 and Bill C-46). The...
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