Post #239 800 words; 4 minutes to read Summary: Current practices on responding to sex offences would do more to reduce recidivism if they were more consistent with the available evidence .    Sex offenders are probably the most reviled group among all those convicted of crimes, even though the category includes a very wide array of behaviours.  They are also subject to conditions that other people with criminal convictions do not face, no matter what their crimes, such as the many restrictions associated with being on the sex offender registry.  Even within prisons people ..read more

Post #238 900 words; 4 minutes to read   Summary: A study of 1600 young men in Quebec shows that imprisonment can badly interfere with normal life development, leading to increased recidvism. A very high proportion of the people in jail or in trouble with the law are young.  A recent  study by Isabelle Fortin-Dufour and colleagues in Quebec (also in book form) found that while males between 20 and 39 years of age are only 17% of the Canadian population, they make up 58% of those in the provincial and federal correction system. It has long been known that young men account for a ..read more

Post #238 900 words; 4 minutes to read   Summary: A study of 1600 young men in Quebec shows that imprisonment can badly interfere with normal life development, leading to increased recidvism. A very high proportion of the people in jail or in trouble with the law are young.  A recent  study by Isabelle Fortin-Dufour and colleagues in Quebec (also in book form) found that while males between 20 and 39 years of age are only 17% of the Canadian population, they make up 58% of those in the provincial and federal correction system. It has long been known that young men account for a ..read more

Post #237 1300 words; 5 minutes to read A report from the CCLA shows that the public and media conversation on bail is entirely inconsistent with the research evidence, which is that bail is too hard to get, with dire results.   Over the past year politicians, law enforcement, and media outlets were quick to assert that Canada’s bail system had become too lenient. These assertions are contradicted by decades of research documenting the operation of the bail system and the impact of pre-trial detention. The evidence shows that Canada’s bail system is indeed facing a crisis – but it is ..read more

Post #237 1300 words; 5 minutes to read A report from the CCLA shows that the public and media conversation on bail is entirely inconsistent with the research evidence, which is that bail is too hard to get, with dire results.   Over the past year politicians, law enforcement, and media outlets were quick to assert that Canada’s bail system had become too lenient. These assertions are contradicted by decades of research documenting the operation of the bail system and the impact of pre-trial detention. The evidence shows that Canada’s bail system is indeed facing a crisis – but it is ..read more

Post #236 920 words; 4 minutes to read Summary: Tough on crime may make good politics but it’s bad policy.  One reason is that most people have committed a crime at some point in their lives, making it impossible to prosecute most of them. Audio summary by volunteer law student Hannah Lee. https://johnhoward.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tough-on-crime-is-the-wrong-approach.m4a ‘Tough on crime’ has long been an effective political slogan, and now we are hearing it again in Canada.  It is a slogan intended to generate anger and fear, which are among the most powerful emotions.  W ..read more

Post #235 1200 words; 5 minutes to read Jonathan Baglee  is currently attending Athabasca U with the aspiration of becoming a lawyer. www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-baglee.  This is the second part of his story; part 1 is here.   I started using marijuana in high school and immediately became inspired by those selling it. Their status and the money they seemed to have motivated me to get involved. Our school’s dealers wouldn’t serve everyone, so I became an intermediary, purchasing marijuana with others’ money and taking a cut for myself. Not long after discove ..read more

Post #234 1200 words; 5 minutes to read Summary: Women released on parole face many obstacles to building good lives, some of which are a direct result of the parole system itself. Most of us think that a criminal sentence is over once you are released from prison – as evidenced by the way parole is treated in the media, as equivalent to being ‘free’.  However the time after release can be as difficult or sometimes more difficult than being in prison. A recent open access paper by Laura McKendy and Rosemary Ricciardelli reinforces this conclusion based on studying the experiences of 43 wo ..read more

Post #234 1200 words; 5 minutes to read Summary: Women released on parole face many obstacles to building good lives, some of which are a direct result of the parole system itself. Most of us think that a criminal sentence is over once you are released from prison – as evidenced by the way parole is treated in the media, as equivalent to being ‘free’.  However the time after release can be as difficult or sometimes more difficult than being in prison. A recent open access paper by Laura McKendy and Rosemary Ricciardelli reinforces this conclusion based on studying the experiences of 43 wo ..read more

Post #233 900 words; 4 minutes to read   Summary: Ben Perrin, law professor and former advisor to the Harper government, makes a compelling argument for a dramatic change in our approach to criminal justice. ‘Indictment’, by Benjamin Perrin.  University of Toronto Press, 2023. A dozen years ago Ben Perrin was a key adviser to  the Harper government on criminal justice policy, and was integrally involved with that government’s ‘tough on crime’ approach that led to dozens of laws with tougher sentences, and the like.  (Many of these measures were later struck down by the cour ..read more