1. Intro to women and CJS

Structures of policing

  1. municipal

  2. Provincial

  3. Federal

  • Municipal

    • Largest number of police officers in Canada

    • 137 stand-alone police organizations in Canada, with highest number in Ontario (44)

    • Municipal police are governed by provincial police acts

  • Provincial

    • Only three provincial police services in Canada: Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland

    • Provincial police used in areas where RCMP or municipal police forces are not served

  • Federal

    • RCMP reports to minister of Public Safety

    • Operates in some capacity in all provinces and territories under the RCMP Act

    • Has 15 provincial/territorial divisions, with training depot in Regina, and headquarters in Ottawa

    • Provides a range of services

Indigenous policing

  • June 1991

    • First Nations Policing Policy (FNPP) was introduced There are two main types of policing agreements:

      • Self-administered Police Service Agreements

        • A First Nation or Inuit community manages its own police service under provincial policing legislation and regulations

      • Community Tripartite Agreements

        • A dedicated group of officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police provides

Provincial Courts

Each province has its own provincial court - First venue for criminal cases

Three court levels in each province:

  1. Provincial and territorial courts → Handles wide variety, such as by-law, small claims, traffic violations, family law

  2. Superior Courts → Hears most serious criminal cases

  3. Courts of appeal → Court of review for cases that come from provinces/territories superior courts

→ Provincial specialty courts

  • Specialty courts exist at provincial and territorial level

  • Created to hear cases specific to one type of offence

  • Goal was to divert people away from CJS

    • Examples:

      • Toronto’s Drug Treatment Court

      • Domestic Violence Courts

Federal Courts

  • Hears cases involving claims against government and cases in federal areas

  • Made up of specialized courts, such as Tax Court and Military Court

  • Federal Court of Appeal also reviews decisions of federal tribunals

→ Supreme Court of Canada

  • All courts fall under the Supreme Court of Canada

  • They have authority over all private and public law

  • No trials are held at Supreme Court

  • Made up of chief justice + 8 other judges appointed by prime minister

    • Longest service Chief Justice was Honourable Beverley MaLachlin, first woman

    • Can be changed when a new PM comes in, appointed by PM

Correctional System

  • Consists of both federal and provincial services

  • Female are incarcerated at a much lower rate than males (7.5% of federal incarcerated are women)

  • Due to small number of female offenders, female inmates were housed with male

    • 1849: Brown commission report released – highlighted horrific living conditions and punishment inflicted on women at Kingston Penitentiary

Prison for women

1934: First women for prison (P4W) opened (Kingston)

Many issues with the P4W:

  • Gendered rehabilitation programs (hairdressing, housekeeping, cooking)

  • Reports that the penitentiary was costly when less than 50 women were being housed at a time

  • Reports that there are problems with housing all women in one prison

  • Reports that women were being housed too far from home

  • Lack of French programming

  • Indigenous women’s needs not met

2000: This prison finally closed

  • Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women (TFFSW) recommended its closure

    • correctional service of Canada, Elizabeth Fry society → Women centred approach

  • Women to be transferred to 5 regional facilities, including a healing lodge for Indigenous women

→ 6 Institutions for women

  • Grand Valley Institution for Women: Located in Kitchener

  • Ontario Nova Institution: Located in Nova Scotia

  • Edmonton Institution for Women: Located in Alberta

  • Joliette Institution: Located in Quebec

  • Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge: Located in Saskatchewan

  • Fraser Valley Institution: Located in British Columbia

    • Buffalo Sage Wellness House, and Regional Psychiatric Center also house women

Criminalized Women in Canada

Statistics of Incarcerated Women

Department of Justice Canada: 2020 Report on women in the Criminal Justice System

Findings:

  • The number of women in federal corrections has increased by 20% since 2014/2015, despite the total number of offenders changing very little (+0.3%).

  • Despite representing only 4% of all women in Canada, Indigenous women made up 42% of women’s admissions to provincial/territorial custody

  • Since 2007/2008, the number of Indigenous women admitted to provincial/territorial custody has increased dramatically, by 66%, compared to a decrease of 8% for non-Indigenous women

Criminalized women

  • ‘Criminalized’ describes individuals whose behaviours have been criminally sanctioned by law

    • Criminal offence → Criminalized

  • Race, class, gender and sexuality can affect the process of criminalization in many ways

  • Crimes against the Person: 23% of women involved in the CJS were charged with crimes against the person

  • Crimes against Property: 25.8% of women charged with a crime against property

Theft and fraud

Two most common crimes among women:

Theft and Fraud

  • 27.3% of those convicted of theft are women

  • 28.1% of those convicted of fraud are women.

  • Reasoning?

    • Economic needs of themselves and families Some women are also charged with defrauding government agencies (i.e., welfare)

BLACK WOMEN, FRAUD AND WELFARE QUEEN

  • “The 1980s and 1990s saw another boost in Black mother-blaming through Welfare Reform and the War on Drugs through the construction of the Welfare Queen” (Gurusami, 2019)

    • ‘ welfare queens’

    • Black mothers are lazy, often drug-addicted, hypersexual, careless parents whose primary goal is to evade work and lead lavish lifestyles funded by state benefits

Illicit Drugs

  • Women are commonly charged with drug-related activities

  • Drug related crimes include driving under influence, possession of drugs, trafficking, importation.

  • From 1991 to 2014, drug related offences have increased 52%, despite Canada’s crime rate decreasing

War on Drugs

  • President Nixon launched strategies to combat drug use and distribution

  • Canada followed suit with Harper’s Safe Streets and Community Act

    • Emily Murphy

      • Women activist

      • One of the ‘famous five’

      • Referred to as the ‘mother of marijuana criminalization’

Incarcerated Mothers

Many incarcerated women are mothers (70%)

  • Due to being primary caregivers, a lot of children are placed into foster care or live with other family members

  • Children separated from their moms

  • Women worry about their children – causes stress

  • Some women are allowed to have their children with them in prison, but most aren’t

Mother-Child program (MCP)

  • Government initiative program intended to keep families together

  • Implemented in 2001 as part of shift in women’s corrections

  • Child full time with them until 5th birthday, can visit after

Eligibility

  • Only 150 women eligible since its implementation

  • Minimum or medium security

  • No mental health issues or criminal charges against a child

  • Must have designated inmate babysitter

  • An alternate caregiver outside prison

Coping strategies

  • Many women develop coping strategies when incarcerated due to stressors

  • Coping strategy: any behavior that a person employs to deal with a difficult situation

  • Some women commit criminal behavior to cope with abuse

  • Self-injury

  • Alcohol and Drug Abuse

April 22nd Incident

Women’s prison riot, April 22, 1994

  • Group of six women jumped officers outside the hospital area at P4W

  • Many of the officers involved left their job and were negatively affected

  • During April 22-26, women participated in throwing food, verbally assaulting officers, involved in a slashing, attempted hostage taking, etc.

  • Evening of April 26 – Warden of P4W called in a male institutional response team

Creating choices report

In 1990, Report called “Creating Choices” was released by Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women

  • Highlights problems with correctional system

  • Criticisms of report – failed to define the meaning and criteria of woman centeredness, and needs were still not met

Watchdog groups

  • Presently, there are number of groups dedicated to ensuring rights are upheld within the CJS Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI)

    • Review policies of the CSC and complaints

    • Citizen Advisory Committees (CAC’s)

  • Allows members of public to contribute to quality of programs for incarcerated people

  • Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies

    • Elizabeth Fry – prison reformer from England who wanted to improve conditions of incarceration

    • Goal is to support incarcerated women and girls and increase awareness of ‘decarceration’