Data on Canada’s prison system
900 words; 4 minute read. The annual performance monitoring report of the Parole Board of Canada is one of the best regular sources of data about criminal justice in Canada – a field where our data are generally quite weak....
Read MoreMajor problems in Ontario jails and courts
1000 words; 5 minutes to read. A recent report on the Ontario Ministry of Corrections by the Auditor General found significant problems that involve not just waste of public money, but even more seriously, negative consequences for many people enmeshed...
Read MoreWhy conviction does not always imply guilt
930 words; 4 minutes to read Some people are found guilty of crimes they did not commit, and many more people plead guilty to specific charges that are inaccurate. Yet once someone has pled guilty or been convicted, we seem...
Read MoreMichael Bryant, CCLA and criminal justice
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) is a champion for civil rights in all areas of Canadian life. Criminal justice is one of its focus areas. The organization has been very active in mounting court challenges around some of the...
Read MoreMost people can’t afford a proper legal defense
950 words; 4 minutes to read. A fundamental aspect of justice in Canada is that any accused person has the right to make a proper defense. In practice, this right does not exist for most Canadians because they cannot afford...
Read MoreElection issue 2 – Why ‘tough on bail’ is bad policy
940 words; 4 minutes to read Several political leaders have recently made statements calling for making it harder, if not impossible, for people charged with certain kinds of offencss to get bail. The Conservative Party platform specifically calls for no...
Read MoreElection issue 1 – Crime in Canada is decreasing
This post is 740 words. 3 minutes to read. A person who only paid attention to the media, whether newspapers or TV or radio, would get the impression that crime in Canada was running amok, virtually unchecked. It is the...
Read MoreThe Hidden Epidemic of False Guilty Pleas
By Caroline Erentzen, York University and colleagues (more information at the end of the post) This post is just under 1000 words and can be read in 4-5 minutes. In the late 1980s, a series of DNA-based exonerations shook the...
Read MorePolice record checks create big problems
This post is about 500 words and can be read in about 2 minutes. Opinion by Christin Cullen, Executive Director, John Howard York Region Our current system for police background checks is a barrier to employment for far too many...
Read MoreLack of support after release from jail is a big problem
This post is about 600 words and can be read in 3 minutes. For many people who commit crimes, and their families and loved ones, their sentence is only the beginning of their problems. As other posts have described, people...
Read More