In the 1790s, penal reformers rebuilt America’s squalid jails as airy, hygienic places meant to keep residents – and by extension society – healthy. Now they’re hotbeds of COVID-19. What went wrong?
Those living in rural areas have more punitive attitudes toward crime and how to control it than city-dwellers, and it’s a major component of the growing urban-rural divide in Canada.
The debate about the reliability of forensic evidence reflects a lack of understanding of how forensic science is best used in the justice system, rather than a problem with forensic science itself.
Indistinct forensic audio is often ‘enhanced’ to make it sound clearer. But how effective are the techniques that are used? A new experiment suggests they can be highly misleading.
Bill C-75 was introduced to the House as a way to fix issues with the criminal justice system. However, an unintended consequence is that low-income people will lose access to law school clinics.
It’s been three years since the TRC released its report on the lasting impact of residential schools in Canada but responses to the 94 Calls to Action have been slow. A new framework hopes to change that.
Programs that allow individuals to be supervised in the community instead of in prison are growing in a way that is not sustainable and is contributing to mass incarceration rather than relieving it.
Stanley Andrisse was once branded a career criminal and served time in prison. Today, he is a professor at two medical schools and an advocate for higher education for those who’ve served time.
Germaine Greer’s recent comments about the punishments for rape show the need for more complex, evidence-based discussions about trauma and the criminal justice system.
In Alberta, an alternative initiative sees youth who commit non-violent crimes sentenced to 25 hours of chess instruction with a University of Lethbridge professor.