Women in remand
700 words, 3 minutes to read Post #147 The majority of people held in Canadian provincial jails are on remand – that is, they have not been found guilty of a crime but are being held anyway for a range...
Read MoreTag Archive: Indigenous. Aboriginal
99% of Ontario community safety grants go to police
July 13, 2020
About 1000 words; 5 minutes to read By Claire Wilmot , adapted from The Conversation One of the major issues in the current debate over defunding the policing is whether police are being asked to do too many things that...
Read MoreInequality and racism as central themes
July 6, 2020
450 words; 2 minutes to read Issues of inequality and racism are at the very forefront of the news in Canada. The criminal justice system is often cited as a place where these problems are notable. These issues have been...
Read MoreThousands of Canadians affected by unnecessary arrests
June 12, 2020
Recently, TV Ontario aired a documentary called “The Arrest”, about several Canadian cases in which people sued the police for wrongful arrest. The film shows a lot of footage of the actual arrests but also shows the lasting damage to...
Read MoreThe poor state of criminal justice in Canada
May 29, 2020
800 words; 4 minutes to read Just a year ago, in May, 2019, federal Justice Minister David Lametti released a report called “State of the Criminal Justice System”. Issued in the last few months of the government’s first mandate, it...
Read MoreThe state of Canadian prisons – Correctional Investigator’s Report, 2018-19
April 27, 2020
900 words; 4 minutes to read The annual reports by Canada’s Correctional Investigator (CI) provide a unique lens into conditions in Canada’s federal prisons. Both the current Investigator, Ivan Zinger, and his predecessor, Howard Sapers, along with their staff, have...
Read MoreThe sorry state of provincial jails
February 21, 2020
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 MoreMore posts worth a second look
February 7, 2020
580 words; 3 minutes to read Many previous posts on this blog continue to be highly relevant. The problems they addressed remain as prevalent as ever. These posts show how many of the issues in our system are well known...
Read MoreNew government fails on criminal justice
January 30, 2020
600 words; 3 minutes to read Those who believe in making major reforms to criminal justice in Canada were heartened a few years ago. The new Liberal government in 2015 made many commitments to address at least some of the...
Read MoreData on Canada’s prison system
January 25, 2020
| Blog
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....
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