Post #301
800 words; 4 minutes to read
By Catherine Latimer, Emily Stewart, Felicia De Sousa
The previous post marked the 300th since this blog began, almost exactly 9 years ago.
Our very first post outlined our purpose:
“Our goal is to help build a well-informed public, which in turn should lead to better public policy and a more successful approach to criminal justice; one that uses public resources wisely to reduce crime, reduce harm related to crime, and provide more support for victims of crime.” The blog would be another way to support the goals of the John Howard Society of Canada.
That first post also noted some facts about criminal justice in Canada which were being ignored, such as crime rates that had declined a lot, while the number of arrests or people imprisoned had dropped much less; the number of dropped charges; the small number of people who ever had a trial (90% plead guilty); the growing number of people held on remand; and the gigantic cost of imprisonment vs the alternatives.
We promised to address a wide range of issues in criminal justice with a focus on what would be ‘better, fairer, and more effective’. We promised to include the work of many different people, including those who had been through the system, with a focus on Canadian sources, and to go beyond the emotional headlines in the daily news.
We promised the blog would accessible – posts would be short and plain language. Fo those wanting to know more, we would provide easy links rather than footnotes or citations. To promote sharing, the blog would be open access and free to reproduce.
So how have we done?
We have indeed published a wide range of work by researchers, academics, and community groups. The work of many Canadian (and some international) scholars and advocates has appeared here. We’ve published comment and stories from people who have been through the system, and others who have been victims of crime.
We have tried to be non-partisan, on the side of evidence, and avoiding the intense emotions that seem to overwhelm clear thinking in this sector. We believe our work reinforces the goal of a criminal justice system that operates based on evidence in the interests of public safety.
The blog and our other versions on social media get many hits. References to our work pop up quite frequently in Canada and beyond. We believe we are one of the most frequently used sources in this field in Canada.
All of this had been done entirely by volunteers, most of whom were university students – too many to list here. Some stayed for a few months, others for years. We are very grateful for all their assistance.
Public policy still poor
That’s all on the positive side. However we also have to admit that the public discussion of criminal justice and public safety is, if anything, even more misguided than it was a decade ago. Despite growing evidence, often cited in this blog, ‘tough on crime’ continues to be a winning slogan. Canada continues with policies around arrests, bail, sentencing, parole and rehabilitation that are expensive and ineffective. Options that are so promising, such as alternatives to incarceration, restorative justice and effective support for rehabilitation, are barely explored. Putting more people in jail and keeping them there longer still seems to be regarded by many as the way to go, even as we know this does not improve public safety but does cost a lot of public money.
We never expected that this blog, or any similar effort, would change public attitudes and policies. Public policy is about politics, and politics is driven far more by emotion than by evidence. The frequent claims of governments to be guided by evidence only apply when the evidence is consistent with what will gain public support. As the aphorism goes, ‘When politics collides with science, the result is… politics.’ Or as a very successful politician once said to one of us, ‘That may be true, but it’s not what people believe’.
While providing evidence and information is not decisive, it is important. In the long term – sometimes the very long term – established ideas and practices do get overturned by evidence. History shows us countless examples of dramatic changes in what people believe, sometimes over quite short periods of time, as a result of growing evidence – from evolution to nutrition to medicine and health to human rights.
We believe that at some point in the future we will look back at our current approach to criminal justice the way we now look back at the some of those other important issues – with a sense of ‘how could we ever have believed and done those things?’
Meanwhile we will continue to do our part by putting evidence in front of people in a way that is readable, understandable, and shareable.
About this blog: The John Howard Canada blog is intended to support greater public understanding of criminal justice issues. Blog content does not necessarily represent the views of John Howard Canada. All blog material may be reproduced freely for any non-profit purpose as long as the source is acknowledged. We welcome comments (moderated).
Winner of 2025 Clawbies award for law blogs.
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