Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada

2020 ◽  
pp. 24-39
Author(s):  
Tracie Lea Scott
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Personal Safety ◽  
Clearance Rates ◽  
Aboriginal Women ◽  
Women Experiences ◽  
Women And Girls

This chapter examines how one particular group of people within Canada, indigenous women, experiences both a higher rate of victimization and a lower rate of case clearance. Indigenous women in Canada are three times more likely to be killed by a stranger than non-Aboriginal women, and as of 2010, clearance rates for cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women are consistently lower across Canada. Despite these statistics, other measures show that Indigenous women show similar satisfaction with their personal safety from crime as non-Aboriginal women as well as other measures indicating a similar confidence in the criminal justice system as non-Indigenous women. In this chapter, it is argued that the dissonance between certain measures is indicative of the settler-colonial heritage that informs both the perception of violence against indigenous women in Canada, as well as the phenomenon of violence against indigenous women themselves.

scholarly journals Kijibashik: Turn it Around

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tenzin Butsang ◽  
Flora Matheson ◽  
Jerry Flores ◽  
Angela Mashford-Pringle
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Core Knowledge ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Critical Gap ◽  
Federal Prisons ◽  
The Impact

Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of incarcerated Indigenous women within Canada’s federal prisons. More than half of these women also identify as single mothers of multiple children, extending the scope of incarceration’s impact across generations. While maternal incarceration has been shown to contribute to a myriad of issues in children, including mental illness and increased mortality, there are few qualitative studies where previously incarcerated Indigenous women have been asked directly about the impact of incarceration on their wellbeing and mothering. This project will utilize a community-based research methodology that centers the voices of previously incarcerated Indigenous mothers by examining the commonalities and distinctions in their lived experiences. We will (1) identify the mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, and relational implications of incarceration for Indigenous mothers, (2) explore Indigenous concepts of motherhood and kinship, (3) identify the unique needs of this population in the criminal justice system, and (4) inform new and existing programs and services directed towards Indigenous mothers involved in the criminal justice system. Semi-structured individual interviews with previously incarcerated Indigenous mothers and Sharing Circles (focus groups) with key stakeholders, including Elders, Healers, and community partners involved in the criminal justice field will form the core knowledge for the project. This project will address a critical gap in public health research concerning the wellbeing of marginalized and incarcerated individuals and contribute significantly to our understanding of the experiences of Indigenous women in the criminal justice system. Through a collaborative partnership with several key Indigenous-centred organizations, the knowledge generated will be used to inform and develop decarceration programming and supports for previously incarcerated Indigenous mothers, establishing concrete measures to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in the Canadian criminal justice system, now and into the future.

scholarly journals A Body Speaks: State, Media, and Public Responses to Femicide in Guatemala

Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Erin Beck ◽  
Amir Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Criminal Justice Response

In 2008, Guatemala passed the Law against Femicide and Other Forms of Violence against Women, establishing the gender-based killing of women (femicide) as a unique crime. Since then, over 9000 Guatemalan women and girls have died violent deaths. How do Guatemalan institutions and publics react to these women’s murders, and what do these reactions reveal about the impacts of legislative reform for individual victims, Guatemalan society, and criminal justice institutions? To answer these questions, we analyze state, media, and public reactions to three high-profile femicides that took place after the 2008 VAW Law. We trace the criminal justice response and legal developments following each femicide, and couple this with an analysis of newspaper coverage and social media commentary about the case. We find that despite the passage of new legislation and the creation of new institutions, various weaknesses in the Guatemalan criminal justice system undermine the impacts of reforms. These weaknesses in the criminal justice system produce three types of injuries: (1) individual injuries by hurting victims and their families; (2) public injuries by diverting public attention away from reflections about social norms and VAWG; and (3) institutional injuries by reinforcing the public’s distrust of the criminal justice system.

scholarly journals Sexual Assault Case Processing: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassia Spohn
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Status ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Assault Victims ◽  
Sexual Assault Case

One of the goals of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is to end violence against women and girls in all countries. An important component of this goal is ensuring that all crimes of violence against women and girls are taken seriously by the criminal justice system and that police, prosecutors, judges and jurors respond appropriately. However, research detailing how cases of sexual assault proceed in the criminal justice system reveals that this goal remains elusive, both in the United States and elsewhere. The rape reform movement ushered in changes to traditional rape law that were designed to encourage victims to report to the police and to remove barriers to arrest and successful prosecution. However, four decades after this reform, victims are still reluctant to report sexual assaults to the police, and arrest, prosecution and conviction rates for sexual assault cases are shockingly low. Reversing these trends will require policy changes that are designed to counteract the stereotypes and myths underpinning sexual assault and sexual assault victims.

Targets

2018 ◽  
pp. 87-115
Author(s):  
Nikki Jones
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Gender Socialization ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Adolescent Period ◽  
Over Time

Chapter 3 illustrates how the crime-fighting community cedes responsibility for the control of young Black men most vulnerable to violence as either victim or perpetrator to the most powerful and punitive member of the community: the criminal justice system. This isolation and vulnerability is evidenced in the daily and routine interactions among a range of law enforcement actors in the neighborhood and young Black men, which makes the adolescent period for today’s youth markedly different than that of Eric and his peers. In places where targeted policing practices persist over time, the juvenile and criminal justice system can become the most significant institutional presence in young men’s lives, which can make it even harder to reach young, Black men in crisis. Routine encounters with the police, which are facilitated and legitimized by the crime-fighting community, also shape the gender socialization of young men and exacerbate the vulnerability of other neighborhood adolescents to gendered forms of violence, including Black women and girls.

scholarly journals Aboriginal Women and the Canadian Criminal Justice System

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Reitmanova ◽  
Robyn Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Recidivism Rates ◽  
Aboriginal Women ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of this policy review was to critically examine the Aboriginal Justice Strategy (AJS), which is a federal governmental program founded in 1991 to combat the problem of high rates of criminality in the Aboriginal population in Canada. Considering the high recidivism rates of AJS program participants, we suggest the AJS is not as effective in achieving its objectives. Looking at this strategy through a lens of structural social work, we found that it is inattentive to the impact of structural factors on criminality in some Aboriginal communities, groups, and individuals. Also, the strategy does not take into consideration gender-based factors that influence the interaction of Aboriginal men and women with the criminal justice system, which is profoundly different. Moreover, the strategy is inattentive to the five pathways that often bring Aboriginal women into contact with the criminal justice system - poverty, violence, sex trade, mental illness, and addiction. These pathways are inherently linked to the primary structures of colonialism, racism, and sexism, which continue to oppress Aboriginal women in Canada. For these reasons, we proposed that gender-based analysis would be useful for an improved understanding of these pathways. We also provided several recommendations for lowering the rates of crime committed by Aboriginal women, which include, state supported economic investments for community development, job creation, education attainment, and employability skills as well as policies against homelessness and supports for trauma, addictions, and mental health issues.

In search of justice for domestic and family violence

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Nancarrow
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Family Violence ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
The Other ◽  
Women’S Views

In 2000, reports of two Australian taskforce investigations considering justice responses to violence against women contained opposing recommendations about the suitability of restorative justice for cases of domestic and family violence. One taskforce was composed entirely of Indigenous women while the other was predominantly composed of non-Indigenous women. This article analyses interviews with members of each taskforce, confirming a split between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women on the appropriateness of restorative justice in cases of domestic and family violence. There was some agreement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women's views about the potential for combining elements of the criminal justice system and restorative justice, although this potential was conditional on various factors specific to each group of women.

scholarly journals Prisoning Indigenous Women: Strength and Resilience in the Face of Systemic Trauma

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Grekul
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Face ◽  
Critical Feminist

The overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the Canadian criminal justice system is an enduring and systemic issue that must be addressed. Over the past 10 years, the proportion of women behind bars has increased by almost 30 percent; for Indigenous women, this number is 60 percent (Office of the Correctional Investigator 2017). Using a critical feminist criminological lens, this paper explores the ways in which colonial legacies, patriarchy, trauma, and systemic victimization inside and outside the criminal justice system contribute to the criminalization and (over)prisoning of Indigenous women and questions the practice of prisoning an already marginalized and oppressed group of people. Drawing on critical feminist criminological research and empirical studies, I theorize a victimization–criminalization–incarceration cycle concept to explain the ways in which societal- , institutional- , and individual-level factors intersect and impact Indigenous women’s journeys through the criminal justice system in tangled and complicated ways. Future research could provide additional insights into the potential value of this concept for policy and practice.

scholarly journals The health of women and girls released from prison - findings from Australia and internationally

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Janca
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
General Population ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Service Use ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
History Of ◽  
Women And Girls

Abstract Women and girls involved in the criminal justice system experience a higher burden of morbidity than their justice-involved male counterparts and women in the general population. In addition, women with a history of incarceration are more likely than men with a history of incarceration to be exposed to poor social and health circumstances. While both justice-involved men and women have an increased risk of death compared to their counterparts in the general population, justice-involved women experience a greater elevation in risk. Understanding and addressing the health and social needs of women leaving prison is critically important to address high rates of preventable mortality, and to design appropriate gender-sensitive transitional support. This presentation will first briefly summarise the findings of a scoping review which reported on the health status of girls and young women in detention, published in the Lancet Public Health earlier this year. It will then summarise findings from a global systematic review and meta-analysis on the health of women involved in the criminal justice system, describing what is known about their physical health, mental health and health service use. Finally, this presentation will describe results from a novel prospective cohort study from Australia on differences between women and men in patterns, characteristics and predictors of ambulance and emergency department presentations, describing the implications of these findings in the context of a growing need for evidence-based and gender-sensitive transitional support planning.

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