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You are on the [cover page] of folder [Justice System Media]Literature/media articles about the justice system
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47 posted on June 28, 2009
Youth convicted of swarming assaults, robbery
By: Peter Small
Published: Jun 26, 2009
Source: The StarThe last member of a "wolf pack" of youths that swarmed victims in Toronto parks, the TTC and at bank machines has been convicted of two counts of robbery.
Youth Court Justice Ellen Murray convicted the teen who cannot be named because he was 17 at the time of the summer 2007 attacks in the robbing of a man in Dufferin Grove Park and of a foreign tourist at the Bay subway station.
Both men were assaulted.
46 posted on June 11, 2009
Ont. privacy commissioner probing practice of background checks on jurors
Published: June 10, 2009
Source: CBC NewsOntario's privacy commissioner is probing whether privacy rights were violated when police launched secret background checks on jurors.
Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian said the investigation is also necessary because the practice, in which police used confidential databases to probe the background of would-be jurors for Crown prosecutors, seems to be more widespread than the government had first indicated.
"Initially, the attorney general advised that this practice was restricted to one courthouse in Simcoe County," Cavoukian said in a release. Read More >>
45 posted on June 08, 2009
Who are they kidding? Lawyers love legal aid
By: Christie Blatchford
Published: Jun. 06, 2009
Source: The Globe and MailThe criminal defence bar and the journalism profession have something in common: Members of both are forever claiming public interest and public good as the end goal, while rarely declaring up front their naked commercial interest.
We in my business do it all the time when we thunder about freedom of expression and the public's right to know. These are cherished rights to be sure, and we are correct to fight for them (and often the only ones who bother), but infrequently acknowledged is that when exercised to the fullest, those rights also provide us with juicy stories which in turn help pay newspaper bills and wages.
44 posted on June 03, 2009
More than 140 Ontario lawyers join legal-aid boycott
Experienced defence counsel refusing to take on serious cases until fee dispute settled
By: Kirk Makin
Published: Jun. 02, 2009
Source: The Globe and mailA boycott of Ontario's legal-aid plan by seasoned criminal lawyers doubled overnight, as virtually every experienced defence counsel in Toronto vowed to stop taking serious cases until there is a hike in legal-aid fees.
By late Tuesday, 140 lawyers had signed onto a boycott of future homicide and guns-and-gangs cases in protest of legal-aid rates that have steadily fallen further behind the cost of living, said Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers Association.
43 posted on May 28, 2009
Chinatown shopkeeper faces charges
By: JENNIFER LEWINGTON
Published: May 27, 2009
Source: The Globe and MailA Chinatown shopkeeper and two employees who allegedly pursued a suspected shoplifter, tied him up, tossed him in a van and beat him now face multiple criminal charges.
Yesterday, the Toronto Police Service said the three men face a total of 12 charges in the incident, which unfolded Saturday afternoon after the storekeeper approached the suspected shoplifter, believing he had stolen merchandise from the food store near Dundas Street and Spadina Avenue.
42posted on May 28, 2009
Chinatown rallies to defence of grocer facing assault charge
By: Jeff Gray
Published: May 27, 2009
Source: The Globe and MailAs he unpacks tomatoes in front of his Chinatown grocery store, Wang (David) Chen, a slight, 35-yearold father of two small children, doesn't look like a superhero or a criminal.
But on the weekend, he and two of his employees ended up charged with assaulting and kidnapping a suspected shoplifter after tying him up and keeping him in a truck until police arrived.
Nearby shopkeepers fed up with thieves are rallying to his defence, saying police are too slow to respond when called about shoplifters and often let them off with a warning.
We hope police can protect us and keep out businesses running, Mr. Chen said in an interview. Now, they are on the criminals' side, not our side.
41posted on May 27, 2009
Prison Cell-Phone Use a Growing Problem
By: Tom McNicho
Published: May 26, 2009
Source: The TimeDrugs and weapons aren't the only contraband in prisons these days. The latest underground currency among inmates is an item most of us consider harmless: the cell phone. And so far, prison officials are fighting a losing battle to keep inmates from obtaining cell phones and using them to communicate with people both inside and outside prison walls. (SeeTIME's photo-essay on "Boxing Out of Poverty and Prison in Thailand.")
In California, home to the country's largest state prison system, more than 2,800 cell phones were confiscated from inmates last year, double the number seized in 2007. But the problem isn't limited to California. State and federal prisons across the country are grappling with what officials say is an epidemic of cell-phone use among inmates. (See TIME's photo-essay on the long odyssey of the cell phone.)
40 posted on May 28, 2009
Store employees charged with assaulting suspected shoplifter
By: Melissa Leong
Published: May 25, 2009
Source: The National PostA grocery store owner who is charged with assaulting and kidnapping a suspected shoplifter says he was only acting in self-defence and trying to capture a criminal.
David Chen, the 35-year-old owner of the Lucky Moose Food Mart in Chinatown, chased down a man who had allegedly stolen a tray of potted plants on Saturday.
Another employee and his brother-in-law who was returning from a delivery helped grab the suspect.
They tied his hands and feet and threw him into the back of the delivery van.
39posted on May 28, 2009
Police identify men accused in beating
By: Adrian Morrow
Published: May 25, 2009
Source: The StarPolice have identified three men accused of beating up a suspected shoplifter in Chinatown.
On Saturday, a store owner approached a man who he believed had shoplifted from his Grange Ave.
variety store. That afternoon, the owner saw the man again and contacted two of his employees.
While two of them chased the man on foot, a third drove after him in a van. When they caught him, the trio forced him into the back of the van, tied his hands and feet, and beat him, said Const. Tony Vella.
A witness called police, who stopped the vehicle and let the man out. He was treated for bruises to his hands and feet.
38posted on May 28, 2009
Police fear pattern in beating of shoplifters
Shopkeepers accused of violence as incident in Chinatown turns 'ugly'
By: Precious Yutangco
Published: May 25, 2009
Source: The StarTwo of the three storekeepers accused of bundling a suspected shoplifter into a van and beating him on the weekend were involved in a similar incident in 2001, according to a Toronto police email.
The internal email mistakenly released to the media yesterday asks eight officers about whether to hold a media scrum to alert shopkeepers of their "rights when acting on their powers of arrest."
Saturday's incident became "ugly" when the accused a Grange Ave. store manager and two of his employees allegedly restrained a suspected thief, bound his hands and ankles and threw him into a van, where he was beaten, the email states.
Officers responding to a 911 call freed the man.
37 posted on May 28, 2009
Robbery suspect beaten
By: TAMARA CHERRY
Published: 24th May 2009
Source: Toronto SunHe should have just put it back.
A man who allegedly stole something from a Chinatown shop yesterday was bound, beaten and stuffed in a van in the moments before police arrived yesterday afternoon.
Arrested were the shop owner, manager and a clerk, accused of going after the man for stealing.
The drama unfolded just before 1:30 p.m. when the victim, 51, entered a Dundas St. W. and Spadina Ave. area store, having apparently snatched something from the same store earlier in the day, Toronto police said last night.
36posted on May 28, 2009
Chinatown shop employees arrested for assault, kidnapping
By: Jasmeet Sidhu
Published: May 23, 2009
Source: The StarToronto police have arrested a Chinatown shop owner, manager and clerk after they allegedly assaulted and kidnapped a store customer.
Police were called to 44 Grange Ave., near Dundas St. W and Spadina Ave. at around 1 p.m. Saturday, where they say the three men approached a man in their store believing that he stole merchandise.
The victim ran away and was allegedly chased by the two store employees with another following in a vehicle.
The victim was caught and then beaten up, tied, and forced into a waiting vehicle. Police arrived on the scene just as the van was pulling away and intervened.
35posted on May 25, 2009
Judge slams Peel prison guards' job 'antics'
By: Megan O'Toole
Published: Saturday, May 23, 2009
Source: The National PostA judge has harshly criticized a job action this month by Peel Region prison guards that caused substantial delays in bringing accused people to court, saying it constituted a "serious affront" to the legal system.
"The in-custody accused and the courts were effectively held hostage by the antics of OPSEU Local 234," Ontario Superior Court Justice Casey Hill stated in a decision this week. In his seven-page ruling, the judge blasted the job action as unconstitutional, saying it violated prisoners' Charter right of unfettered access to the courts.
"A constitutional crisis existed," the judge wrote in his decision.
34posted on May 25, 2009
Pretend lockdown leads to real thing
By: Melissa Leong
Published: Friday, May 22, 2009
Source: the National Post, With Files From Katherine LaidlawA lockdown drill at a Bloor Street ESL school turned erroneously into the real thing yesterday when someone, unaware of the exercise, reported that a gunman was in the school.
Toronto police, including tactical officers and canine units, surrounded the Bickford Centre at 777 Bloor St. W. shortly before 11 a. m., after a call from a citizen who had been in contact with a friend inside the building.
Police sealed off the street between Ossington Avenue and Christie Street and warned people to stay away from the area. Early reports surfaced that the principal had been taken hostage.
May 28, 2009 Commentary on this incident, from Monica Gupta, Chair of Friends of Christie Pits Park
Hello Everyone,
As you may or may not know, last week there was a 'Lockdown' at Bickford Centre (Montrose and Bloor) and Bob Abate Community Centre. Apparently this was supposed to be a 'drill' at Bickford Centre however, no one notified police nor Bob Abate Centre staff. During the 'drill' it turned quickly into a real life 'lockdown' at all neighbouring schools and Emergency Task Force were dispatched.
I spoke with Donna Densmore (Program Coordinator of Bob Abate Centre) and she described what happened in detail. I have also heard from concerned parents from the community. This was a very traumatic experience for staff, parents and the pre-schoolers involoved. Not to mention the large numbers of ESL students at Bickford Centre who were in complete shock. I was told there was one pregnant woman who was being treated for shock.
There was an obvious lack of communication between TDSB Bickford Centre and the police and the staff at Bob Abate Community Centre.
I have asked Councillor Joe Pantalone to look into what went wrong and to keep us informed. They will be contacting Chris Bolton TDSB school Trustee to find out if there will be an inquiry.
Friends of Christie Pits Park partners with Bob Abate Centre for many of its events and activities and supports them whenever possible. The staff at Bob Abate should be commended on keeping all the children calm during such a traumatic event.
33posted on January 2, 2009
Little Bang for Enforcement Buck
Costs, return of street-level drug arrests questioned
By:Karen Hawthorne
Published:January 02, 2009
Source: NATIONAL POSTFollowing a two-day investigation in a neighbourhood in Scarborough, the vehicle of Denroy Wolcott was boxed in by four Toronto police cars and he was quickly arrested.
A scale and just over a gram of crack cocaine were found inside the vehicle. The takedown followed an undercover police operation where an officer purchased half of an "eight-ball" (one eighth of an ounce) of crack for $120.
Wolcott was charged with trafficking and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
They are offences that entitle a defendant to a jury trial.
After a two-day Ontario Superior Court trial and more than 15 hours of deliberations, Wolcott was convicted of the trafficking charges, but acquitted of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
In the end, about two grams of cocaine were taken off the streets of Toronto after an investigation and criminal trial that costs taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.
While the Wolcott case may be an extreme example of significant public resources used for little return, arrests, prosecutions and trials for low-level street dealers are common across Canada. It is a reality that has some legal observers -- and even law enforcement officials -- asking whether police and prosecutors are accomplishing much good by going after the people at the bottom end of the drug trade chain.
32 posted on June 08, 2009
Judge asked to recuse himself over comments about Fantino
By: TU THANH HA
Published: November 10, 2008
Source: THE GLOBE AND MAILWhen a hearing resumes today at Ontario Provincial Police headquarters in Orillia it will be the latest chapter in a legal saga that started as an incident of domestic violence involving an OPP officer.
In the ensuing years the case prompted allegations that OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino was running a personal vendetta against his underlings. It has now snowballed into claims of political meddling.
The adjudicator hearing the case, Mr. Justice Leonard Montgomery, was asked last week to recuse himself by prosecutor Brian Gover.
31posted on November 02, 2008
Responses out of sync with tragedy
By: Jim Coyle
Published: October 31, 2008
Source: The StarBy most accounts, Attorney General Chris Bentley who has just endured a week in political hell is not the sanctimonious stuffed shirt he sometimes seems.
After all, you have to like the humility of a guy who had to scramble to find tickets for his family to attend his swearing-in to cabinet after his election in 2003 because he'd given his allotment to a colleague he figured more likely to make the cut.
For an attorney general, the heat could hardly have been more scorching than it was this week. A 23-year-old innocent bystander shot dead last weekend in east-end Toronto, the accused a man with a long criminal record and history of violence; a 75-year-old woman and her daughter murdered earlier this month in their Toronto area home, the accused a neighbour out on bail.
30posted on November 02, 2008
Time for Bentley to keep his predecessor's promise
By: MURRAY CAMPBELL, mcampbell@globeandmail.com
Published: October 29, 2008
Source: THE GLOBE AND MAILChris Bentley was quieter yesterday. Under fire for a second day about why a man with a violent past was roaming Toronto with a gun in his hand, the Ontario Attorney-General stopped talking about the evil empire in Ottawa that was preventing him from making the streets safe.
"This is not a partisan issue," he said after facing questions in the legislature about the weekend shooting death of Bailey Zaveda, an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire when she stepped outside a pub to have a cigarette.
29posted on November 02, 2008
Justice officials in war of words over crime laws
By: Robert Benzie
Published: October 29, 2008
Source: The StarA nasty war of words erupted yesterday between the two most powerful elected justice officials in Canada.
In duelling two-page letters, federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley lashed out at one another over anti-crime legislation.
Nicholson fired the first salvo with "an open letter" sent at 9 a.m. blasting Bentley for criticizing Ottawa in the Legislature on Monday for failing to do more to prevent criminals from getting out on bail.
28posted on November 02, 2008
Have some respect: leave the politics out of it
By: MURRAY CAMPBELL, mcampbell@globeandmail.com
Published: October 28, 2008
Source: THE GLOBE AND MAILIt shouldn't be that hard. A young woman out for a smoke is gunned down and, if you're a politician with an impressive title, all you have to do is express sorrow and anger in roughly equal measures.
But it's a skill that eludes Chris Bentley. The Ontario Attorney-General can turn a discussion on the killing of an innocent bystander into a partisan argument.
The question posed to Mr. Bentley during yesterday's Question Period was predictable given the horrific death early Saturday morning of 23-year-old Bailey Zaveda, who got caught in crossfire when she stepped outside a Toronto pub for a cigarette. It was no surprise that the opposition would raise news reports that said the alleged gunman has an extensive criminal record and was described by police as an "extremely violent" man.
27posted on November 02, 2008
The Star: Bentley defends progress on judicial system reform
By: Robert Benzie
Published: October 28, 2008
Source: The StarAttorney General Chris Bentley is rejecting suggestions the Liberal government is dragging its heels on implementing several reports on judicial reform.
"Public safety is always number one always has been, always will be for our government," a defensive Bentley said yesterday.
In the Legislature, NDP MPP Andrea Horwath (Hamilton Centre) demanded to know why the Liberals have yet to do much in response to reports recommending improvements to the civil court system, to victims' services and to legal aid.
"We know that there are many, many government reports ... that have been commissioned and they only sit on shelves, gathering dust," said Horwath.
26posted on October 27, 2008
The Star: Justice reform reports ignored, critics say
RON BULL/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
Police tape cordons off a shooting scene at an
underground parking lot at 15 Brookbanks Dr. in 2005.Many have sought ways to fix problems affecting the justice system. But in most cases, their reports have led to few perceptible changes
By: Tracey Tyler
Published: October 27, 2008
Source: The StarJust last week, at virtually the same time a 15-year-old was charged with murdering Brampton teenager Rajiv Dharamdial, government printing presses were gearing up to publish a major new report on preventing youth crime.
Commissioned last year by Premier Dalton McGuinty after 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot dead in a Toronto school, the report examines the "root causes" of youth criminal behaviour. It represents months of work by Roy McMurtry, Ontario's former chief justice, and former Liberal cabinet minister Alvin Curling.
25posted on October 18, 2008
Toronto Sun: Supreme Court considers the rights of trash
By: ALAN SHANOFF
Published: 12th October 2008
Source: Toronto SunWhat do you expect when you put your garbage in a receptacle on the curb? Most people expect a municipal worker will put it in a big truck and it will eventually be taken to a dump site and comingled with other garbage.
But think harder, do you think it might be picked up by the police and get sifted through for evidence to establish that you've broken the law? Or suppose it is examined so your DNA can be scooped up for placement in a databank. Or it is examined so your fingerprints can be collected? I don't think you'd be very happy if anybody sifted through your garbage, let alone the police.
That's because garbage can contain evidence of sensitive and personal information and most people don't want the government poking around in their lives any more than they have to.
Our expectation of privacy may be low but we still have some expectation of privacy in our garbage.
24 posted on October 18, 2008
The Star: Trash? Or treasure trove for police?
Lawyers argue over whether the state has the right to go through individuals' garbage
By: Tracey Tyler
Published: October 11, 2008
Source: The StarOTTAWAThey were talking trash yesterday at the Supreme Court of Canada, with judges picking through claims about the privacy of the country's garbage.
From orange peels and discarded envelopes to Band-Aids and cotton balls, what gets dragged to the curb can reveal vast details about a person's life. The implications of allowing police unchecked freedom to comb through household refuse has civil libertarians worried.
"Permitting police to harvest the contents of our garbage, our household waste, is the functional equivalent of looking through the house," Jonathan Lisus, a lawyer representing the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, told a seven-judge panel yesterday.
"At the very minimum, it's the police looking in the window."
Or, as Justice Ian Binnie put it, the "house in a bag" scenario.
23posted on October 11, 2008
ENDING THE FAINT-HOPE CLAUSE
The Globe And Mail: The people are not hanging judges
Published: October 9, 2008
Source: The Globe And MailStephen Harper, the Conservative Leader, is promising to set a rigid minimum of 25 years in jail for first-degree murder, and to do away with the flexibility in which 25 years is the norm unless a jury says otherwise. But for what purpose or principle? If it is to reflect popular revulsion at early release for convicted killers, where is that revulsion? When those killers ask a jury for an early chance at parole, the juries tend to say yes. These are juries of ordinary people; the lawyers, judges and politicians are not in control. If the juries wished to say no, they could.
Being tough on crime for Mr. Harper means a more rigid reliance on punishment. For young offenders, he has objected to diversion from the courts for minor crimes of violence. For adults, he has objected to house arrest for car thieves. A tougher system need not be inflexible. The faint-hope clause grew out of a carefully wrought compromise when Canada abolished capital punishment in 1976. Mr. Harper is too smart to try to bring back the death penalty; he doesn't need such a divisive and politically risky debate (and Canada doesn't need the death chamber). He can only nibble at the edges of that debate.
22 posted on November 02, 2008
Top cops gather to fight violence
'We're going to do whatever it takes to make sure public safety is protected'
By: JONATHAN JENKINS
Published: 31st October 2008
Source: TORONTO SUNA crime fighters' summit is being arranged by Attorney General Chris Bentley in the wake of a series of murders that have shocked violence-hardened Torontonians.
"We're taking a look at what further action we can take to make sure that tragedies don't occur, to make sure our position is as strong as it can be for the dangerous, the violent and the out-of-control," Bentley said.
"We're going to do whatever it takes to make sure the public safety is protected."
The Attorney General said he spoke last week with Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair trying to set up a meeting as soon as possible.
21posted on October 12, 2008
YOUTH CRIME AND THE CONSERVATIVES
The Globe And Mail: Tougher justice, patchwork nation
Published: September 23, 2008
Source: The Globe And MailThere should be one criminal law for Canada. Stephen Harper, the Conservative Leader, is proposing to make it easier for young people convicted of murder after their 14th birthday to receive a life sentence - except in a province that wants a kinder, gentler system.
With Quebec in mind, Mr. Harper told reporters that the provinces may set a higher age when applying his government's tougher rules. "The age is 14 in general, but that depends on the province. If provinces set a different age for the definition of young offenders, we respect it." This could create a patchwork criminal law.
Mr. Harper's proposals to toughen penalties and remove the anonymity shielding many violent youth criminals deserve to be debated. But by breaking with a principle of federalism as old as Canada, Mr. Harper is diverting the debate.
20posted on October 12, 2008
The Globe And mail: Harper pitches two-tier youth justice plan
CAMPBELL CLARK and CAROLINE ALPHONSO AND LES PERREAUX
Published: September 22, 2008
Source: The Globe And mailOTTAWA and MONTREAL Teenagers as young as 14 who are convicted of serious crimes such as murder would face stiffer sentences including the possibility of life in prison under Conservative Party proposals that would bypass a Supreme Court of Canada decision that made it more difficult to sentence youths as adults.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said Monday a re-elected Tory government would overhaul the Youth Criminal Justice Act; in effect, imposing adult sentences on some young offenders and no longer shielding their identity. He said his government would raise maximum sentences for young killers currently 10 years for first-degree murder and seven years for second-degree and hand down 14-year sentences for other violent crimes now subject to two- or three-year terms.
19posted on August 25, 2008
The Star: Paralegals seek a wider role in justice system
Legal services providers are critical of new rules barring them from work in certain areas of law
By: Peter Small
Published: August 25, 2008
Source: The StarTommy Taylor found himself in deep trouble on July 1 when he was charged, for a second time, with driving while under suspension.
When a police officer first charged him in January, he was left with the incorrect impression that paying off an outstanding $465 speeding ticket and $150 to reinstate his licence would clear everything up. He didn't know he had a court date June 25, which he missed, sparking another automatic suspension.
On Canada Day, when another officer stopped him for speeding, Taylor was charged once again.
18
posted on October 27, 2008
The Star: Veteran lawyer acquitted of jail drug charges
Edmund Schofield, 74, `had no knowledge' of inmate's underwear drug pouch, court told
By: Dale Anne Freed
Published: August 15, 2008
Source: Theb StarToronto defence lawyer Edmund Schofield hurried into the Don Jail, intent on seeing an inmate before closing time.
But less than two hours later, the 74-year-old veteran lawyer was escorted out in handcuffs into a police car after being charged with smuggling marijuana and cocaine to an inmate. The drugs were found in the prisoner's underwear.
Schofield, a FBI special agent in the 1960s and a former prosecutor with the Attorney General's office, spent the night shivering in a Toronto police cell. He was taken to a bail hearing the next morning at Old City Hall, where he was released on a $10,000 surety bail put up by his old friend and lawyer David O'Connor.
Yesterday, Schofield walked out of the University Ave. courthouse a free man, acquitted by Justice Maureen Forestell on charges of trafficking one ounce of marijuana and one gram of cocaine.
17posted on August 04, 2008
'Greenshirt' youths urged to inform on eco-crimes
By: Craig Offman
Published: Friday, August 01, 2008
Source: National Post
Npower
In a recent series of ads aimed at school children, a leading British energy company has assigned a controversial summer project: police their family's global-warming crimes.
Launched last week by NPower -- the country's fourth-largest provider -- the campaign is part of a larger program to educate children about global warming and the wasteful habits that might exacerbate it.
Placed in prominent newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Telegraph, the ads offer giveaway diaries in which kids can note domestic infractions, such as leaving a mobile phone charging for too long or a Nintendo game left flickering in the dark, as well as Post-It notes, which can be left at the crime scene as a warning to the offenders. Equally important, the campaign seeks to attract kids to its controversial Web site, Climate Cops, which encourages children to monitor and report on their domestic energy crimes to their classrooms.
Some activists and marketers see the site as a clever marketing gimmick to teach children to preserve their planet. Others see excessive indoctrination tactics lifted from the pages of the George Orwell novel 1984, in which children are set against their parents, or worse, the Hitler Youth, who were encouraged to betray their loved ones for the greater glory of the state. Read More >>
16posted on July 21, 2008
Politicians can't resist being 'tough on crime'
Despite falling crime rate, Liberals and Tories have both embraced mandatory minimums
By: SANDRO CONTENTA, JIM RANKIN
Published: July 20, 2008
Source: The Star"Canada was founded on the principles of peace, order and good government. This is the birthright of all Canadians; yet Canadians feel less safe today and rightly worry about the security of their neighbourhoods and the country. There is no greater responsibility for a government than to protect this right to safety and security."
Speech from the Throne, Oct. 16, 2007
Toronto's 2005 "year of the gun" which saw a jump in gun-related killings, including several high-profile incidents in which innocents were shot stirred outrage and prompted all levels of government to stand shoulder-to-shoulder.
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Mayor David Miller (a long-time member of the NDP) shared a stage in late 2006, brought together by guns, public fear, intense media coverage and a new crime bill.
15
posted on July 21, 2008
The Star: What the Tackling Violent Crime Act does
By: The Star
Published: July 20, 2008
Source: The StarAdds two new firearms offences breaking and entering, and robbery, to steal a firearm and escalating mandatory jail sentences for serious firearm-use, and gun trafficking, offences. Minimum five years for a first offence, and seven for a second, for eight crimes for use of a gun. Minimum of three years for a first offence, and five for a second, for possession and trafficking crimes.
Reverse onus bail provisions for accused in serious gun crimes and other weaponsrelated offences.
Three strikes law aimed at dangerous and high-risk offenders presumes dangerousness.
Higher penalties for drug and alcohol impaired drivers.
Raises the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16 years.
What C-26 proposes to do
New minimum sentences for Schedule I drugs (cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine):
14posted on July 21, 2008
The Star: Prisons poisoning natives
Jails turn out to be 'gladiator schools' for the many aboriginals who end up there
By: SANDRO CONTENTA
Published: July 20, 2008
Source: The StarHOBBEMA RESERVES, AlbertaOn the walls of Jonathan Napoose's family home are portraits of Jesus Christ and embroideries of the Last Supper, vestiges of the Catholic upbringing he received from his mother.
On his torso are signs of an altogether different allegiance; tattoos, or "patches," identifying him as a top-ranking member of the notorious Aboriginal gang, the Redd Alert.
He counts the knife scars on his head, right cheek, arms and stomach and stops at a dozen. He says he usually gave more than he got, and tells of bashing bones, ducking bullets and narrowly skirting death after a brutal introduction to a baseball bat.
"I made a name for myself because I was really vicious," says Napoose, an articulate, 27-year-old resident of the Samson Cree reserve, south of Edmonton. "I would basically volunteer to beat people up."
13
posted on July 21, 2008
The Star: Getting tough on crime is toughest on the taxpayer
LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
An inmate in Manitoba looks out from behind bars in this file photoBy: SANDRO CONTENTAJIM RANKIN, BETSY POWELL AND PATTY WINSA
Published: July 19, 2008
Source: The StarCanadians firmly support federal measures that will put more offenders behind bars for longer, according to a poll conducted for the Star.
That's good news for the Tory government but bad news, experts say, for the criminal justice system and for taxpayers themselves.
The country's annual bill for policing, courts and incarceration an estimated $13 billion excluding provincial costs is about to jump. And rather than make neighbourhoods safer, the opposite is likely: troubled communities figure to get worse.
12
posted on July 21, 2008
The Star: Poor services leave kids easy prey to gangs
JIM RANKIN/TORONTO STAR
Graham D'Souza once belonged to a street gang and now counsels
youth through the East Scarborough Boys and Girls Club.
D'Souza was shot in the back, and had the bullet lodge in his hearBy: SANDRO CONTENTA, BETSY POWELL, JIM RANKIN
Published: July 19, 2008
Source: The StarAs a teenager, Graham D'Souza was an East Side Bloods gang member, carrying a gun, selling crack, getting arrested for robbery. He spent time in custody and got shot in the heart. His destiny was clear: to join the
scores mostly young men from tough neighbourhoods who cycle in and out of jail, often returning to the very place where their trouble began.
"If not (in) jail, pretty much a waste to society," D'Souza says of his dim prospects.
Now 25, he shows the scars of his misspent youth most visibly a faded zipper scar that runs down his chest. Two years ago, outside a downtown nightclub, he got in a fight with a stranger who pulled a gun and shot him in the back.
One bullet entered a vein and went to his heart. Another lodged near his spine.
11 posted on July 21, 2008
The Star: What are priority neighbourhoods?
Published: July 19, 2008
Source: The StarWho: Identified by city council and United Way
When: Started 2004
Why: To reduce crime, increase opportunities for young people and improve services for people in underserved areas.
How: Neighbourhoods were measured for key services, including libraries, schools, community centres, settlement and employment services, as well as for things like median household income, education levels and knowledge of English or French.
What: In total, 13 neighbourhoods were identified: Malvern, Jane-Finch, Jamestown, Kingston-Galloway, Victoria Village, Dorset Park, Eglinton East, Scarborough Village, Black Creek, Westminster-Branson, Crescent Town, Steeles-L'Amoreaux and Kennedy Park.
10
posted on July 21, 2008
The Star: Jail 'a lazy response to poverty'
Published: July 19, 2008
Source: The StarImagine pockets of cities where so many residents are in jail and prison, and for so long, that by the time they are released their incarceration will have cost more than $15 million. Imagine these people being released and returning home to the same place and conditions where the trouble began and, within two years, 4 in 10 are back behind bars. It is a costly human migration pattern, and it is real. It what is believed to be a first in Canada, the Star has mapped incarceration costs by neighbourhood and hometown using one-day snapshots of sentencing and address data for inmates in Ontario jails and federal prisons. Both were obtained in freedom of information requests. The maps, combined with socio-economic data from the Census, show familiar patterns. The people in jail come from our most troubled neighbourhoods. In Toronto, the high-incarceration areas including Regent Park, Kingston- Galloway, Jane-Finch and Jamestown are the same neighbourhoods at risk for everything from diabetes to unemployment. It is where the poor live. In the GTA, there are postal
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posted on July 21, 2008
The Star: How CPIC works
Published: July 19, 2008
Source: The StarThe first step
A criminal history file is created the first time an individual is charged by police. In most cases, it will be reported by the charging police service to the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC), a central database.The database, administered by the RCMP in Ottawa since it went online in 1972, then opens a temporary file accessible only to the charging police service. It is supposed to be destroyed by CPIC after five years if there is no disposition in the case.
After a conviction
If the charge results in a conviction, a permanent file a "criminal record" is created. Cases where there is an acquittal, or charges are stayed or withdrawn, also remain in the national system and, depending on the nature of the case, are purged after a set amount of time. These criminal "histories," until purged, remain searchable by police but are not considered for court purposes a criminal record. Cases ending in a conditional or absolute discharge, while not considered a conviction, are also tracked but are no longer nationally accessible following three- and one-year periods, respectively.
8posted on July 21, 2008
The Star: Crime by the numbers
Published: July 15, 2008
Source: The StarThese provide a detailed breakdown of people with criminal records in Canada, as well as related statistical information.
By: CTV.ca News Staff
Published: Tue. May. 20 2008 9:49 AM ET
Source: CTV.ca
The wheels of criminal justice are grinding ever slower in the country's adult courts, finds a Statistics Canada study.
In 2006-2007, it took an average of eight months to complete a case, compared to six months five years earlier, the agency said Tuesday.
"Longer times to complete cases may be in part due to an increase in the proportion of cases involving multiple charges," the study said.
In 2006-2007, cases involving multiple charges comprised 60 per cent of the adult case load, compared to 53 per cent a decade earlier, it said. Read More >>
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Prison Nation
By: Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Published: 4/25/2008
Source: mises.org
Americans, perhaps like all people, have a remarkable capacity for tuning out unpleasantries that do not directly affect them. I'm thinking here of wars on foreign lands, but also the astonishing fact that the United States has become the world's most jail-loving country, with well over 1 in 100 adults living as slaves in a prison. Building and managing prisons, and locking people up, has become a major facet of government power in our time, and it is long past time for those who love liberty to start to care. Read More >>
5posted on October 18, 2008
The Star: JPs get $20,500 retroactive raise
Published: April 09, 2008
Source: The StarOntario's justices of the peace are worth every penny of a $20,500 retroactive raise each one is getting following the recommendations of an independent commission, Attorney General Chris Bentley said today.
The commission recommended the salary of justices of the peace rise from $88,500 currently to $109,000 in 2007, saying they play an important role in the justice system, from signing arrest warrants to considering bail.
"This is a role that cannot be lightly undertaken," states the commission's report, dated last year but just quietly released by the government. "There must be respect for this role in the community. There cannot be any thought that justices of the peace could be influenced in their work either by threats or bribes from individual criminals or organized crime groups.
"The income of justices of the peace must be such that they can disdain and dismiss any offers of bribes."
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By: The Canadian Press
Published: Thu. Mar. 6 2008 7:16 PM ET
Source: CTV.ca
Ontario Attorney General
Chris Bentley
TORONTO -- Ambitious targets will set by the province to cut down on the number of "unproductive'' court appearances that are draining resources and slowing down Ontario's already strained criminal justice system, Attorney General Chris Bentley said Thursday.
"When you recognize that six of the nine appearances are adjournments, which don't substantially advance a case, there's an opportunity there to refocus, refocus those resources in more effective ways,'' Bentley said following a speech to law students at the University of Toronto.
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Health Law Judicial System
CANADA'S SYSTEM OF JUSTICE (from the website of the Canadian Department of Justice, http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/dept/pub/just/index.html
FOREWORD
The law affects Canadians every day. There are, we know, laws against crimes such as robbery or murder. But there are also laws that apply to us when we pursue everyday activities, such as driving a car, renting an apartment, getting a job or getting married. In fact, there are laws concerning almost every aspect of our daily lives. Many people believe that our laws are too difficult to be understood, except by lawyers. It is true that in a complex world the laws can be lengthy and technical. If a person needs help in understanding how the law applies to a specific problem, he or she can always consult a lawyer. But the fundamentals of Canadian law are based on common sense. These ideas and principles concern every Canadian and are something every Canadian should strive to understand. What is the "law"? Where does it come from? What is it for? How does it operate?
This booklet does not give exhaustive answers to these questions. Rather, it provides a brief outline of Canada's system of law and justice in an attempt to demystify it and stimulate thought and discussion. As members of society, we must decide what our laws will be. But, when creating new laws or changing old ones, it is important to understand the basic principles of our legal heritage. A law is more than
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Open letter about the alternative sentencing circle at Dufferin Grove Park on March 28, 06: by David Cayley, author of The Expanding Prison
Open letter about the alternative sentencing circle at Dufferin Grove Park on March 28, 06. The circle was with a young man who had done a great deal of vandalism to the community-built cob courtyard structure, and had been arrested the night of the damage, because a neighbour called the police.
Dear Peacebuilders,
Here are a few reactions to the Peacemaking Circle. My responses didnt exactly fit the format of the questionnaire that was distributed after the circle so I have written them out in the form of an open letter that can also be shared with other participants. Read More >>
1 posted on August 05, 2008
Supreme Court backs prisoners' right to vote
By: CTV News Staff
Published: Fri. Nov. 1 2002 10:31 AM ET
Source: CTV.ca
The Supreme Court of Canada is drawing mixed reviews after ruling that inmates in federal prisons can vote in federal elections. The court struck down a 1993 law that removed that right on Thursday.
"The right to vote has always been in the constitution ever since it was created. The question is whether the government had the right to limit that," Graham Stewart of the John Howard Society told Canada AM on Friday.
But while Stewart argued that every citizen has the right to vote under the constitution, an advocate for victims took an opposing view.
"I find the decision to be morally repugnant and an insult to all victims of crime in Canada and to society as well. Let's remember that we are talking about people who have committed the most violent crimes in society," Gary Rosenfeldt said.
Rosenfeldt, who serves as the president of Victims of Violence (VOV) Canadian Centre For Missing Children, said that victims have no rights under the constitution. Rosenfeldt's son was murdered by B.C. serial killer Clifford Olson. Read More >>
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