Canada’s auditor general says inmates are being dumped back into communities, rather than gradually reintegrated into society to ensure they don’t violently re-offend

We’ve been saying it all along and now it’s confirmed by facts. “In a report released Tuesday likely to raise political questions about the Conservative government’s law and order agenda, Auditor General Michael Ferguson identified significant shortcomings in the federal prison system and parole policies that he says threaten to undermine community safety and security.”

Source: Hundreds of inmates who spend more time in jail and less time on parole are more likely to reoffend: AG | National Post

Contrary to rumour and reputation, this is an aggressively entrepreneurial city. A hub of commerce and industry, free of job-killing red tape and bureaucratic meddling. Well, not really. But Vancouver is home to at least one phenomenally successful, unfettered growth industry: retail cannabis.

Like a tidal wave that starts slowly but builds to an irresistible force all while Harper keeps his ideological tough-on-crime head buried in denial in the sand.

Source: Vancouver’s proposed pot rules miss the obvious

I had an interesting conversation with a claims adjuster for a major insurance company yesterday, which affirmed why I have dash cams in my cars. Besides recording accidents and incidents it will also save you from common scams: 1. Someone suddenly braking at a green light to make you rear-end them. 2. Waving you on at an intersection and then suddenly accelerating into it to make you hit them on the side. 3. Stopped at a red light, the car ahead reversing into the front of your car. 4. Pedestrian jumping onto your windshield ‘Better Call Saul’ style. You may never need it but if you do it’ll more than pay for itself the first time. Police have them.  So should you.

Source: Mio MiVue 388 (32GB) HD DVR car truck video camera recorder drive cam high quality dash cam GPS logger: Amazon.ca: Camera & Photo

But there are still lingering questions about the health effects of the drug — which are stalling efforts to shape public policy.

IT’S TIME TO PUT REEFER MADNESS TO BED – “In 2012, government researchers found that people who smoked pot daily for seven years didn’t damage their lungs in a manner similar to that of tobacco smokers. A 2013 study conducted by Donald Tashkin, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles who has led long-term studies on the effects of tobacco inhalation, also confirmed that marijuana use alone didn’t cause significant abnormalities to the lungs. Putting marijuana in your lungs is not the healthiest decision you can make but it’s stark compared to the damage done by tobacco.”

Source: The Impact Of Smoking Marijuana Regularly On Your Lungs, According To Science | ThinkProgress

Pseudoscience in the Witness Box

“The Washington Post published a story so horrifying this weekend that it would stop your breath. The FBI’s three-decade use of microscopic hair analysis to incriminate defendants was a complete disaster. The Post reported that flawed forensic hair matches might have led to possibly hundreds of wrongful convictions for rape, murder, and other violent crimes, dating back at least to the 1970s.”Source: FBI’s flawed forensics expert testimony: Hair analysis, bite marks, fingerprints, arson.

“The Supreme Court did not side with the criminals; rather, it simply held that jail sentences in Canada must not be grossly disproportionate to the severity of the offence. The financial costs, however, pale in comparison to the toll suffered by our democracy when people receive disproportionate jail sentences because the government chose to advance a political agenda rather than heed the objective evidence weighing against its position.”

Nathan Gorham: The court did not ‘side with the criminals’ on mandatory minimums for gun crimes | National Post.

 If you’re stopped by police and you blow a warn (over .05 blood alcohol concentration) or fail (over .08 BAC) on an approved screening device the police officer will suspend your driver’s license for 3 or 90 days respectively – whether you’re guilty of an offence or not and without a trial to determine it. It’s called an administrative license suspension. Is this valid regulation of the highways or criminal punishment? In other words, is it constitutional? Finally, our highest court will decide, next month.

Toronto litigators to argue Supreme Court of Canada breathalyzer law case – Litigation Update | Stikeman Elliott LLP.

The vast majority of our criminal court judges are good, intelligent, knowledgeable, caring individuals who do an excellent job of balancing the interests of society with the circumstances of the individuals who appear before them.  This is but one example. Our judges not only protect us from criminal conduct but they are also our last and only line of defence from unconstitutional laws and abuse of police power. It is a bad, disrespectful and harmful thing that Harper is doing by restricting and removing their judgment and authority to reach balanced, nuanced and just decisions.

In Praise of Judicial Empathy, Humility and Simplicity – Slaw.

“The majority ruling highlights how deeply at odds the government is with the country’s highest court. Since 2006, the Conservatives have created 60 mandatory minimum jail terms for guns, drugs, sex offences and other crimes, according to the justice department, helping to boost the number of federal prisoners to record heights even as crime rates dropped to 50-year lows. Some of those minimum terms could now be challenged and struck down.” How low and blatantly self-serving politically can this government stoop?

via Court strikes ‘blunt instrument’ law of mandatory sentencing – The Globe and Mail.

As fast as the Supreme Court strikes down Harper’s mandatory minimum jail sentences, Harper enacts new ones. This time for tobacco. As “Our Government is encouraged by the latest statistics which show smoking rates at 15%, representing a historic low”…  it is necessary to take “serious action in order to protect Canadians and their families” by imposing jail, jail and more jail. Does ANYBODY actually believe this hyperbole?

Legislation to Keep Contraband Tobacco Off Canadian Streets Comes Into Force | Benzinga.