The US has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. When it comes to violent offenders and the Black community, the system isn’t working, argue criminologists.
Cells at Alcatraz, a famous former prison on an island off the coast of California.
Andrea Pistolesi/Stone via Getty Images
To protect communities, we must improve the likelihood that accused people can comply with their bail conditions by offering greater support on several fronts, from social services to law enforcement.
Every year, hundreds are held arbitrarily in provincial jails. The Canadian government must take action to end the jailing of migrants.
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Migrants and refugee claimants in immigration detention continue to face serious trauma and abuse. The federal government must take action to stop migrant detentions.
Protesters hold placards during an Indigenous deaths in Custody protest in Sydney , June 2022.
Bianca De Marchi/AAP
Russell Marks’ Black Lives, White Law is not about solutions; it’s about identifying the problems with Australia’s criminal legal system, and the injustice it does to First Nations people.
Every day, tens of thousands of American prisoners are locked up in solitary confinement. This is how that looks for those behind bars, and those guarding them.
First Nations children are 20 times more likely to be incarcerated. Governments need to consider raising the age of incarceration and pursuing culturally-led care for these children.
People with disability in prison may need help with personal hygiene, reading, filling in forms, understanding rules, participating in criminal justice proceedings, or making complaints.
Activists protest for the end of shackling pregnant women during birth in prison in New York in 2015.
Yanina Manolova/Associated Press
Tennessee and Wisconsin are among the states that can jail pregnant women because of illegal substance use, despite major medical groups saying that this practice isn’t effective.
Thousands of imprisoned persons in Ontario faced barriers to voting in the June 2 provincial election. Many will also be explicitly barred from voting in the upcoming municipal elections in October.
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Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa e Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University
Elections Ontario must ensure imprisoned people are provided information on their candidates, registration assistance and facilitation by Elections Ontario employees on voting day.
An inmate can be seen inside a segregation cell at the Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ont., in 2016.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University e Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Solitary confinement is still a common feature of prisons across Canada and in its most populous province, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a practice that amounts to torture.
Exposure to adverse childhood experiences, as well as disparities in social determinants of health, can significantly affect development and health in children.
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Adverse childhood experiences like abuse, neglect and dysfunction at home may not seem like primarily medical problems, but they have significant and enduring impact on physical and mental health.
A protester walks with a Canadian flag as police move in to clear downtown Ottawa near Parliament Hill of protesters after weeks of demonstrations.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Linda Mussell, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Suggesting jail or prison is appealing because it is tangible and the process is familiar, but we must ask what is a better, effective and safe way to de-escalate potentially violent situations.
In 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, with his brother Tamerlan, put bombs along the Boston Marathon route, killing and injuring many.
Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Punishment for crimes allows a society to express its values, but a theorist of criminal law and punishment argues it could also reinforce prejudicial stereotypes about racial and ethnic groups.
Medical experts have recommended that HIV criminal laws be revised.
Spencer Platt / Staff / via Getty Images News
Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer for Nursing and Director, Project Healthy Grandparents, Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University