Indigenous people shouldn’t have to fear police who are supposed to protect them but instead still act as judge, jury and executioner.
Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro speaks during a Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers’ meeting on bail reform in Ottawa in March 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
Those determining bail must reflect on their own beliefs and show restraint as they determine risk to avoid relying on false racist narratives. So should those calling for bail reform.
A man rushes past the Ontario courthouse in Toronto in May 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
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.
Two fatal shooting incidents at Toronto high schools, 15 years apart, show just how little has been done to address the root cause of violence in schools. Here people protest gun violence in Toronto in March 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ben Singer
To resolve growing violence in schools, policy conversations about gun violence need to include community programs that dismantle systemic barriers and inequities.
A view of the Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ont. Prisoner work is meant to aid in rehabilitation, not provide private businesses with cheap labour.
THE CANADIAN/Lars Hagberg
People don’t give up their right to be mobile or their right to make decisions about their lives simply because they are forced to flee untenable circumstances.
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.
The Attica uprising marked a milestone in the prisoners’ rights movement. Many of the grievances aired in 1971 are still relevant to today’s incarcerated population.
About half of incarcerated women in the United States are mothers to children under age 18. Natural spaces within a prison can help maintain their mother-child bonds.
As of Dec. 1, inmates in Canada’s federal prisons can no longer be legally held in solitary confinement. But is it truly just an exercise in rebranding?
The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other place in the world. Warehousing people in prison is costly and unsustainable.
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State governments are leading the charge against opioid makers over their role in the epidemic. A team of researchers at Penn State examined just how much the crisis has cost them.
We don’t have much information on how spending time in an adult prison affects a child’s later development.
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In several Australian prisons, babies and toddlers live with their mothers who are serving time. Keeping young children with their mums is a good thing, but they need to be better supported.
The UK imprisons more people than any other country in Western Europe per head of population.
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