This research article raises awareness on the suppression of racial information by police organizations in Canada. It argues that suppression of race prevents anti-racism research which is needed to hold police accountable for racial profiling and stigmatization.
Read More »The bail process dramatically worsens the social and economic conditions of the accused making it more likely for them to re-enter the criminal system. This amplifies the problem of using the criminal system to address non-criminal social challenges.
Momentum
Past achievements and ongoing advocacy.
Opportunity
How creative media can make a difference.
Explorable Explanation
Dig into the causes and effects of this problem.
Momentum
There’s reason to have hope. Advocates, journalists, researchers, and every day people have worked for years to generate political and social momentum for system-wide change.
It's essential that we learn from and build on past achievements and ongoing work. We've grouped these efforts into four categories:
Accountability: news media or research that holds our institutions to account
Programs: pilot programs and funded improvements to the justice system
Strategies: specific plans, frameworks, and proposals for reform
Advocacy: protests, media campaigns, legal challenges
The entries below are just a starting point. We need your help to identify the most important and impactful efforts that are undoing the harm of criminalizing mental health, addiction, poverty, homelessness, and race. Please share your feedback with us.
Opportunity
Creative media can illustrate to new audiences how reducing the harm done to marginalized people by our bail system will result in more just outcomes
It can also help more people understand how investing in social programs and services like housing, healthcare, and education will reduce unnecessary involvement in the criminal legal system.
Explorable Explanation
Sources
A recent study of supervised bail programs showed that over 40% of the group had mental health issues, 31% had recurring mental health and substance abuse issues, while one-third of this group identified themselves as homeless.
Black people are overrepresented in federal prisons by more than 300%, while Aboriginal people are overrepresented by nearly 500%. The same disparities exist in provincial jails.
(Race, Crime and Justice in Canada, John Howard Society of Canada)
40% of police work involves people in crisis or people experiencing a mental illness.
(Study in Blue and Grey, Canadian Mental Health Association - BC Division)
The estimates of untreated mental illness in the criminal justice system range from 15-40% of the incarcerated population.
(Mental Illness and Police Fact Sheets, Canadian Mental Health Association - BC Division)
43% of persons remanded into custody were unemployed. In 2000, the National Council of Welfare concluded, “the reason that accused persons are kept in custody for weeks and months before trial is not because they are dangerous and poor, but mostly because they are poor.”