Canadian Friends address penal abolition
Canadian Friends launch educational resource
The Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC) has launched an educational resource aimed at dispelling some of the myths surrounding penal abolition.
The document From Harm to Healing: Transforming the Justice System, also offers alternatives to a criminal justice system that Canadian Friends believe ‘harms criminals, institutional staff, families and communities’.
From Harm to Healing points out that more than half of Canadian prisoners have no high school diploma, and that eighty per cent have histories of substance abuse. The suicide rate of Canadian prisoners is around seven times that of the general population.
Prison staff are also at risk. According to the new resource, ‘corrections officers’ have the second highest mortality rate of any occupation, and a thirty-nine per cent higher suicide rate than any other occupation. Twenty-seven per cent of prison staff suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Among the suggested alternatives to Canada’s existing criminal justice system are community-based measures such as addressing inequality and the rehabilitation of offenders. From Harm to Healing also recommends the imposition of conditions to ensure accountability, for example, reparation towards victims.
The resource is aimed at Quaker Meetings, but is also suitable for other groups, the CFSC stressed.
