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 More900 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 More700 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 More580 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 More1000 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 More850 words; 4 minutes to read ‘Providing closure’ is one of the comments we often hear in media coverage of verdicts and sentences in criminal cases. The suggestion is that a harsh sentence provides victims of crime, or family members...
Read More930 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 More580 words; 3 minutes to read One of the most contentious areas in criminal justice discussion is around sexual assault. Clearly there are very significant issues here around sexual encounters, and consent. These are difficult for the criminal justice system...
Read More950 words; 4 minutes to read Paula Mallea has had a long and distinguished career as a criminal defense lawyer and public policy advocate. Having worked extensively with prisoners, and with Indigenous people in the justice system, she became a...
Read More675 words; 3 minutes One of the great myths about the criminal justice system is that one of its major purposes is rehabilitation, helping people who did something wrong improve themselves so they will no longer commit crimes. But when...
Read More