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Given tragic events in Minneapolis, let’s examine some of the underlying systems that have allowed police in the US to become so reviled and feared, and important differences that have been protective in Canada...
#riots2020 #GeorgeFloydProtests
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#riots2020 #GeorgeFloydProtests
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I have a bit of a (minor) personal history... some years ago, I was late paying a fine for a minor traffic violation in suburban Chicago... I got slapped with an arrest warrant, had to spend $1000 and six months of wrangling (as a student) to beat it.
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My real crime, I found out later, was driving in a white county with dark skin, and the system was designed, as a Justice department commission found in Ferguson, to victimize minorities, limit their movement, and serve as a revenue extraction machine
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/magazine/cities-fine-poor-jail.html
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/magazine/cities-fine-poor-jail.html
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In Canada there are very few police forces, the biggest cities have them, Ontario and Quebec have their own, most of the rest of the country is covered by the Mounties @rcmpgrcpolice. Always room for improvement, but there is at least centralized training and accountability
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In the US by contrast, there are 18 000 police agencies, half with fewer than 10 officers. There is poor consistency in training, protocol, leadership and policies. http://bit.ly/2AoPFK1 There is a temptation to ‘overpolice’ to raise revenue. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/09/24/want-your-police-department-to-collect-more-fines-it-will-solve-fewer-crimes/
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Deaths involving police in Ontario are carefully scrutinized by an independent body, the @SIUOntario, and charges can be laid if force was found to be excessive or unjustified. There was a high profile case in Toronto recently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Sammy_Yatim
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The differences in outcome are stark:
Canada has usually 15-25 police related deaths per year http://bit.ly/2yOycKz
America sees 5-10x per capita (1000 per year) https://killedbypolice.net/
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Canada has usually 15-25 police related deaths per year http://bit.ly/2yOycKz
America sees 5-10x per capita (1000 per year) https://killedbypolice.net/
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There's also the pernicious presence of for-profit prisons, completely absent in Canada, where many companies have a sordid history of involvement in the slave-trade
http://time.com/5405158/the-true-history-of-americas-private-prison-industry/
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http://time.com/5405158/the-true-history-of-americas-private-prison-industry/
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Private jails and bail systems are used as a revenue source, incentivizing incarceration and revenue generation
America has 2.1 million prisoners, Canada 41000 (5x less per capita)
http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/wppl_12.pdf
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America has 2.1 million prisoners, Canada 41000 (5x less per capita)
http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/wppl_12.pdf
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Private prison operators are a powerful lobby and constantly push for expansion and greater incarceration, and have been expanding since Reagan and Bush Sr.
https://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/private-prisons-research-data-lobbying/
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https://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/private-prisons-research-data-lobbying/
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The US is one of the only countries that elects their judges. 39 states require elections for judges. Elected judges impose harsher punishments, often closer to re-election, and tend to not support minority, especially gay rights
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/us/politics/judges-election-john-roberts.html
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https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/us/politics/judges-election-john-roberts.html
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America's courts depend overwhelmingly on plea bargains, prosecutors win 99.5% of their cases, 97% without trials, as @ConradMBlack discovered to his chagrin some years ago.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/conrad-black-americas-correctional-system-is-utterly-disgraceful-and-ours-seems-to-be-heading-in-that-direction
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https://nationalpost.com/opinion/conrad-black-americas-correctional-system-is-utterly-disgraceful-and-ours-seems-to-be-heading-in-that-direction
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In my work as an emergency physician and as a coroner, I see some of the poor outcomes of addictions, poor mental health care, and our criminal justice system, and spend a lot of time with law enforcement colleagues.
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Crime, and associated violence and deaths can only be prevented by a unified system of education, anti-poverty programs, financial support and deep empathy by policy makers and front-line law enforcement. There's much work to do here but I feel the foundations are there ...
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.. to effectively solve the issue in Canada over time. When an entire system is tilted against you from birth, and built to reinforce your poverty and exclusion, I can't see much hope unless there's some real reform in America.
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