Author Archives: Restorative justice

Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview 2020

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January 2022

This document was produced by the Public Safety Canada Portfolio Corrections Statistics Committee which is composed of representatives of Public Safety Canada, Correctional Service of Canada, Parole Board of Canada, the Office of the Correctional Investigator and the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics (Statistics Canada.

 

 

The Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview (CCSO) is an annual report published by Public Safety’s Research Division. The CCRSO has been published since 1998, with the 2020 report marking the 23rd edition. The CCRSO provides key Canadian criminal justice system statistics across a topics such as crime rates, criminal charges in courts, and the description of offenders in Canada’s correctional systems. The report compiles data from Correctional Service of Canada, Parole Board of Canada, Office of the Correctional Investigator, Statistics Canada, and for the 2020 CCRSO, Justice Canada.

A selection of key trends identified in the CCRSO are included below:

  • The overall police-reported crime rate increased 9.5% in the last 5 years (from 2015 to 2019), but remained 6.9% lower than 2010. Property crime followed a similar pattern, with an 8.7% increase from 2015 to 2019, but remained 8.7% lower than 2010. The rate of violent crime increased 19.3% between 2015 and 2019. The 2019 rate was slightly lower (1.2%) than 2010.
  • Police-reported violent victimization (which counts victims rather than incidents in the crime rate) increased 19.8% in the last 5 years (from 2015 to 2019) and 9.0% in the last year (2018 to 2019). Police-reported sexual violations against children increased 94.3% in the last 5 years. This was the largest increase during this period.
  • Self-reported victimization data in 2019 showed large variability in the crimes reported to police. Motor vehicle/parts theft was the most likely crime to be reported to police with 52% of self-reported motor vehicle/parts theft reported to police. Sexual assault was the least likely crime to be reported to police, with only 6% of self-reported sexual assaults reported to police.
  • The rate of youth charged decreased 47.3%, between 2010 and 2019. The rate of youth charged with violent crimes in 2019 was 17.2% lower than 2010, but has increased 16.0% since 2015.
  • Common assault was the most frequent case in both adult court and youth court in 2018-19. The next most common cases were impaired driving in adult court and theft in youth court.

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Statement of Apology by the Catholic Bishops of Canada to the Indigenous Peoples of This Land

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Friday, September 24 2021

We, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, gathered in Plenary this week, take this opportunity to affirm to you, the Indigenous Peoples of this land, that we acknowledge the suffering experienced in Canada’s Indian Residential Schools. Many Catholic religious communities and dioceses participated in this system, which led to the suppression of Indigenous languages, culture and spirituality, failing to respect the rich history, traditions and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples. We acknowledge the grave abuses that were committed by some members of our Catholic community; physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, cultural, and sexual. We also sorrowfully acknowledge the historical and ongoing trauma and the legacy of suffering and challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples that continue to this day.  Along with   those Catholic entities which were directly involved in the operation of the schools and which have already offered their own heartfelt apologies[1], we[2], the Catholic Bishops of Canada, express our profound remorse and apologize unequivocally.

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‘Unthinkable’ discovery in Canada as remains of 215 children found buried near residential school

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(CNN)The gruesome discovery took decades and for some survivors of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada, the confirmation that children as young as 3 were buried on school grounds crystallizes the sorrow they have carried all their lives.

“I lost my heart, it was so much hurt and pain to finally hear, for the outside world, to finally hear what we assumed was happening there,” said Harvey McLeod, who attended the school for two years in the late 1960s, in a telephone interview with CNN Friday.
“The story is so unreal, that yesterday it became real for a lot of us in this community,” he said.
The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc community in the southern interior of British Columbia, where the school was located, released a statement late Thursday saying an “unthinkable loss that was spoken about but never documented” was confirmed.

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/28/world/children-remains-discovered-canada-kamloops-school/index.html

Restorative justice film promotes healing, honors role of late ombudsperson

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Filmmaker Hunter Johnson took on a commission of a lifetime when he agreed to make a documentary about restorative justice for clergy abuse …

Restorative Justice in the Catholic Church and Beyond

Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation

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From the Center for Action and Contemplation

Week Thirty-six

Restorative Justice

Restoring Relationships
Sunday,  September 6, 2020

Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced. —James Baldwin (1924–1987)

Almost all religions and cultures that I know of have believed in one way or another that sin and evil are to be punished and that retribution is to be demanded of the sinner—in this world and usually the next world, too. Such retributive justice promotes a dualistic system of reward and punishment, good people and bad people, and makes perfect sense to the ego. I call it the economy of merit or “meritocracy.” This system seems to be the best that prisons, courtrooms, wars, and even most of the church are equipped to do. The trouble is that we defined God as “punisher in chief” instead of Healer, Forgiver, and Reconciler; thus, the retribution model was legitimized all the way down!

However, Jesus, many mystics, Indigenous cultures, and other wisdom traditions show an alternative path toward healing. In these traditions, sin and failure are an opportunity for the transformation of the person harmed, the person causing harm, and the community. Mere counting and ledger-keeping are not the way of the Gospel. Our best self wants to restore relationships, and not just blame or punish. This is the “economy of grace” and an operative idea of restorative justice.

After being wronged, few human beings can move ahead with dignity without a full and honest exposure of the truth, as well as accountability. You cannot heal what you do not acknowledge. Hurt does not just go away on its own; it needs to be spoken and heard. Only then is there a possibility of “restorative justice,” which is what the prophets invariably promise to the people of Israel (as in Ezekiel 16:53-63; Isaiah 57:17‒19) and Jesus illustrates in the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11‒32) and throughout his healing ministry.

While I can talk about restorative justice from the framework of Scripture and theology, this week I will rely on experts in the field. Teachers and practitioners Elaine Enns and Ched Myers define restorative justice and peacemaking as “a range of nonviolent responses to injustice, violation, and/or violence with the aim of

  1. reducing or halting the presenting violence in order that
     
  2. victims and offenders (as well as their communities and other stakeholders) can collectively identify harms, needs, and responsibilities so that
     
  3. they can determine how to make things as right as possible, which can include covenants of accountability, restitution, reparations and (ideally) reconciliation.” [1]

We all need to apologize, and we all need to forgive, for humanity to have a sustainable future. Otherwise, we are controlled by the past, individually and corporately. History easily devolves into taking sides, bitterness, holding grudges, and the violence that inevitably follows. No wonder that almost two-thirds of Jesus’ teaching is directly or indirectly about forgiveness. As others have said, “Forgiveness is to let go of our hope for a different past.” Reality is what it is, and such acceptance leads to great freedom, and the possibility of healing forgiveness.

[1] Elaine Enns and Ched Myers, Ambassadors of Reconciliation, Volume 2: Diverse Christian Practices of Restorative Justice and Peacemaking (Orbis Books: 2009), xiii.

Adapted from Richard Rohr,  A Spring Within Us: A Book of Daily Meditations (CAC Publishing: 2016), 194; and

Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps (Franciscan Media: 2011), 38, 39.

Epigraph: “As Much Truth as One Can Bear,” (1962) in The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings, ed. Randall Kenan (Pantheon Books: 2010), 34.

Image credit: What is Ubuntu 01 (detail), Gretchen Andrew, 2018.

Remembering without Revenge

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In this episode, Dr. Carl Stauffer, professor of Restorative and Transitional Justice here at CJP, and an engaging storyteller, reflects on his childhood in Vietnam and the way that war shaped his outlook on life; his early adulthood with a young family in South Africa during a time when the nation was experiencing rapid transition away from decades of apartheid rule. He talks passionately about how central his Anabaptist faith has been pivotal in his work and how it continues to shape the way he shows up and teaches in the classroom.
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Restorative Justice Week 2019

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Restorative Justice Week will be held in Canada, and throughout the world, from November 17-23, 2019. The theme for #RJWeek is Inspiring Innovation.

Discover the many uses of restorative justice (RJ). Explore how RJ can deal with harm in different situations: families, neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces, etc. Think about how RJ values and principles can be applied to every day challenges.

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