Do Victim Impact Statements contribute to justice?
Post #212 950 words; 4 minutes to read. Summary: Work by US scholar Susan Bandes raises important issues about the place of victim impact statements in criminal justice. Victim impact statements (VIS) have become a fixture in the criminal...
Read MoreMany issues in Canadian prisons: Correctional Investigator’s Report
Post #209 About 800 words; 4 minutes to read By Emily Stewart, Blog Associate Editor Audio summary courtesy of volunteer Hannah Lee Summary: Discusses four of the main issues in the 2021 report of the Correctional Investigator on Canada’s prisons....
Read MoreAlec Karakatsanis tells the real story on crime
Post #208 800 words; 4 minutes to read. Summary: US commentator Alec Karakatsanis debunks much media and political propaganda about crime. Audio summary by volunteer Hannah Lee. The last few weeks have seen an onslaught of media stories and political...
Read MoreGladue decision not having desired effects
Post #197 970 words; 4 minutes to read. Audio summary by volunteer Hannah Lee. The enormous over-representation of Indigenous people in Canada’s courts and prisons is well known. As one way of dealing with this problem, the Supreme Court of...
Read MoreCSC fails on diversity issues: Auditor General
Post #196 770 words; 3 minutes to read Audio summary by volunteer Averi Brailey It’s hard to find anyone outside the government that is a fan of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), which operates federal prisons and parole. Previous...
Read MoreJohn Howard Canada 5 Point Plan to Improve Corrections
Post #186 870 words; 4 minutes to read This summary prepared by volunteer Jamie Davison. The John Howard Society has a long standing 5-Point Plan to improve the corrections system in Canada. This post provides a summary of key issues...
Read MoreRisks and benefits of risk assessment
Post #178 720 words; 3 minutes to read Audio summary by volunteer Averi Brailey. This post draws largely on the work of Dr Jennifer Kamorowski and colleagues. The criminal justice system is making increasing use of ‘risk assessment’ instruments and...
Read MoreSpecial intervention units still not working
Murray Fallis Post # 175 750 words; 3 minutes to read Murray Fallis is a lawyer with John Howard Canada. This post has a 30 second audio summary courtesy of our volunteer, Averi Brailey Twenty-six per...
Read MoreAlternatives to prison for racialized women
Post # 170 820 words; 4 minutes to read This post has a 30 second audio summary thanks to John Howard volunteer Averi Brailey. Several posts on this blog have provided evidence that prisons are ineffective and expensive ways of...
Read MoreThe Canadian Prison System: A “Broken” Institution
Post # 169 925 words; 4 minutes to read By Martina Arcuri, recent political science graduate After a year of consultation with prisoners and staff, journalist Justin Ling, in an article in Macleans, illustrated many of the problems in the...
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