374 search results for
Interacting with criminal justice system
Recommendation 11:
The majority of Canadian provinces have separate government bodies in place that provide legal counsel to children (Lovinsky, 2016). B.C. must also assume the responsibility for providing funding and personnel to secure legal representation for children in all guardianship and family law cases in order to adhere to the UNCRC’s recommendations and FLA’s best interest provisions, and to concur with the 2020 CBA report recommendations.
-
Category and theme:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 13:
The language used in high-risk cases must be clarified to delineate between high conflict cases and cases with the presence of violence to ensure the appropriate safeguards are put into place to protect and promote children’s participation (Martinson & Raven, 2020a, 2020b; Brown, Findlay, Martinson, & Williams, 2021).
-
Category and theme:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 13:
The incarceration of one parent often results in various forms of hardship for the rest of the family, particularly the children. Imprisonment disrupts positive, nurturing relationships between many parents—particularly mothers who are often the sole or primary caregiver—and their children. Children and their families suffer economic strain and instability when a parent is imprisoned. Family members are not guilty of anything. All agencies and services involved with the families should try to mitigate the impact on family members at all stages of the criminal justice system, ensuretheir rights are upheld, and ensure they are not discriminated against because of the actions of their family member. Supporting the families and strengthening the children’s positive family connections are necessary to ensure a healthy child development. Different forms of support are needed.
- Encourage the various agencies and services involved with the children to work towards positive family outcomes and to adopt consistent practices in the support of families and positive life outcomes for the children.
- Ensure that families understand the criminal justice process and are aware of the supports available.
- Provide information to families and ensure that the information provided is timely and accurate.
- Encourage and support parents and caregivers to explain procedures, decisions and the truth of the situation to children in an age appropriate manner.
- Ensure that families have access to information and assistance on a range of issues such as housing, benefits and finances, legal issues, health, or childcare.
- Facilitate appropriate contacts between family members and the incarcerated parent.
- Provide guidance to agencies dealing with families of parents in conflict with the law.
- Conduct family impact assessments when new policies and practices are developed that may affect the families of people in conflict with the law.
- Keep incarcerated parents informed about the situation and well-being of their children and other family members, and support them in managing family concerns as appropriate.
Enhancing the Protective Environment for Children of Parents in Conflict with the Law or Incarcerated: A Framework for Action
Group/author:
Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, University of the Fraser Valley – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, University of the Fraser Valley – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Year:
2018
2018
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 20:
The incarceration of a parent, particularly a mother who is a primary or sole caregiver or who has very young children, can have very detrimental impact on the child/children. Various measures can be taken during incarceration, when appropriate, to help maintain the bond between children and their parent, facilitate, contacts between them, and prepare for their eventual reunification. Contact between a child and his or her incarcerated parent can positively impact the child.
- Prior to, or on admission, enable individuals with parental responsibilities to make arrangements for those children, taking into account the best interests of the child.
- Ensure that prison administrations collect information at intake and later regarding the children of detainees, keep that information up-to-date, and protect its confidentiality.
- On admission and on a prisoner’s transfer, assist prisoners (who wish to do so) to inform their children (and their caregivers) of their imprisonment and whereabouts or ensure that such information is communicated to them.
- Make information available about contact and visiting modalities, procedures and internal rules in a child-friendly manner and in different languages and formats as necessary.
- Give due regard in decisions regarding the transfer of the incarcerated parent to the best interests of the child when considering the rehabilitation purpose of the transfer.
- Enforce restrictions on contact of incarcerated parents in a manner that respects the children’s right to maintain contact with their parent.
- Consider significant events in a child’s life, such as birthdays, first day of school, graduation, or hospitalization when granting prison leave to parents.
- Ensure that children are allowed to visit an imprisoned parent, when appropriate, as soon as possible following the parents’ detention and, on a regular and frequent basis, from then on.
- Organize children’s visits so as not to interfere with other elements of the child’s life, such as school attendance.
- Allow arrangements for a qualified person to accompany the children during prison visits if the children’s caregiver is not available to accompany the child.
- Ensure that the prison visit context is respectful to the child’s dignity and right to privacy, including providing child-friendly spaces when possible, facilitating access and visits for children with special needs, and taking into account the children’sdevelopmental needs (physical contact, food, and play).
- Arrange the children’s visits in a flexible manner, particularly when the children’s parents are imprisoned far away from home.
- Use information and communication technology (e.g., video-conferencing, mobile and other telephone systems, internet, including webcam and chat functions), when a family is unable to visit regularly, to facilitate communications between parents and children.
- Assist imprisoned parents with the costs of communicating with their children if their means do not allow it.
- Facilitate imprisoned parents’ participation in the parenting of their children, including communicating with school, health and welfare services and taking decisions in this respect, except in cases where it is not in the child’s best interests.
- Facilitate home leaves for the parents, in particular during the period before their release in order to provide opportunities for them to prepare for fully resuming their parental role and its responsibilities on release, when appropriate.
- Offer programs to incarcerated parents that support and develop a positive child parent relationship.
Enhancing the Protective Environment for Children of Parents in Conflict with the Law or Incarcerated: A Framework for Action
Group/author:
Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, University of the Fraser Valley – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, University of the Fraser Valley – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Year:
2018
2018
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 42:
The healthcare professional should complete a written report that includes the prisoner’s account of the incident and their assessment of any physical injuries and/or psychological impact. This report should be included in the use of force review if the prisoner consents, and a copy should be provided to the prisoner.
-
Category and theme:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 80:
The healthcare professional should complete a written report that includes the prisoner’s account of the incident and their assessment of any physical injuries and psychological impact. This report should be included in the use of force review if the prisoner consents, and a copy should be provided to the prisoner.
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 12:
The Government of Canada must amend the Criminal Code to prevent the use and prosecution of discriminatory or destructive behavioural conditions of interim release and sentencing, specifically:
- legislate that conditions imposed on interim release be reasonable and proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the alleged offence and the circumstances of the accused;
- define “drug paraphernalia” as harm reduction medical equipment and prohibit the imposition of conditions that would interfere with the ability to access or possess harm reduction equipment;
- prior to imposing an abstinence condition, require that courts consider a person’s dependence on drugs or alcohol. Abstinence conditions shall not be imposed on people living with addictions, except where doing so is necessary to protect the safety of a victim, witness, or the public, and harm-reduction measures shall be preferred over abstinence;
- limit “red zone” conditions to situations where there is a substantial likelihood that, if released without a red zone, the accused will commit an offence involving violence or serious harm within the red zone and ensure that any red zone is tailored to the alleged offence, the principles of judicial interim release or probation, and circumstances of the individual;
- remove paragraph 504(2.1) (g), the power for police to impose “abstinence” conditions; and
- eliminate criminal sanctions for non-violent breaches of behavioural conditions.
-
Category and theme:
Audience:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 9:
The Director of Police Services must work with the Independent Investigations Office and the Coroners Service to audit deaths and serious injuries in city cells in BC over the past 10 years, including an analysis of race, disability, housing status, and gender, and, make the findings and recommendations for reform publicly available.
-
Category and theme:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 17:
The CRC was created by Article 43 of the CRC to implement it, by way of General Comments, and provide international standards that apply to the work that B.C. judges, lawyers and other professionals do in family law. They identify children’s rights and the importance of legal guarantees and apply procedural safeguards in describing how to implement children’s rights in judicial proceedings, which includes but is not limited to obtaining children’s views and requiring all appropriate legal representation (see CRC General Comment 14, para 93). These guarantees and safeguards are not implemented in B.C. nor across Canada and should be implemented (Brown, findlay, Martinson, & Williams, 2021; CBA 2020; Jackson & Martinson, 2019; Martinson & Tempesta, 2018; Martinson & Raven, 2020a).
-
Category and theme:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation:
Recommendation 8:
The City of Vancouver should develop a policy on the confiscation of belongings by City Engineering Workers and police which recognizes the fundamental harms caused by the confiscation of belongings from people who rely on public space. The City should instruct its employees to end the confiscation of the belongings of people who rely on public space, especially necessities of life such as shelter, clothing, medication, and important personal items. When City staff must confiscate personal belongings, the City must provide at least 24 hours of advance notice, and when confiscation is justified, direct staff to issue receipts for belongings and cash, details on retrieval, and clear instructions on how people can get their property back. Any confiscated belongings must be stored in an accessible location within the DTES that people can easily attend.
-
Category and theme:
Groups affected:
Location of recommendation: