Some crimes matter more than others. White collar crime part 2
850 words; 4 minutes to read The previous post discussed white collar crime generally; this one focuses on Canada. We lack good information about the extent of white collar crime and prosecution in Canada. Still, according to federal Criminal Intelligence...
Read MoreSome crimes matter more than others. White collar crime part 1
750 words; about 3 minutes to read Previous posts on this blog have discussed the issue of what counts as a crime. Prof. Melissa Hamilton wrote about how some criminal laws are about whether an action harms another person, but...
Read MoreJohn Howard Canada adds podcast series
John Howard Canada is creating a series of podcasts in which former prisoners talk about their experience in prison and re-entering the community. “Voices Inside and Out” talks with people who’ve actually walked through those gates; their personal stories and...
Read MoreIs everyone a criminal? Looks like it…
900 words; 4 minutes to read Most of us think about ‘criminals’ as being a small subset of the Canadian population – people who are dangerous and need to be punished, locked up or kept away from the rest of...
Read MorePredicting recidivism is hard to do
680 words; 3 minutes to read Part of the response of the criminal justice system to COVID 19 has been to release people from prison since jails and prisons are hotbeds for disease given crowded conditions. Some provincial governments in...
Read MorePrison Experience – Part 1
700 words 3 minutes to read By Anonymous (Work sent to us by a former prisoner who does not wish to be identified) I ‘did time’ in several prisons in Canada a few years ago. First, I had nearly 3...
Read MorePresumption of innocence is often a myth
830 words; 4 minutes to read We are told, and believe, that the presumption of innocence is a core concept in Canadian law. Nobody is or should be presumed guilty until they plead guilty or are convicted in a court...
Read MoreGerman prisons better and cheaper
Post #126 830 words; 4 minutes to read Canada’s Correctional Investigator recently released yet another annual report drawing attention to some of the terrible conditions in Canada’s prisons, and the seeming indifference, if not outright opposition, of the government...
Read MoreExpunging criminal records
600 words; 3 minutes to read Last year Senator Kim Pate introduced a bill that would provide automatic expungement of criminal records in Canada. Under this bill, criminal records would automatically be sealed after a certain amount of time had...
Read MoreThe sorry state of provincial jails
630 words; 3 minutes to read The recent release of a new report from the federal Correctional investigator yet again shows the many serious deficiencies in Canada’s prisons, and the indifference of the government to fix these despite many protestations...
Read More