written by PC COPPERFIELD from The Policeman's Blog
When I first heard that Norfolk Police were introducing “sentencing circles” as a way of processing young people through the criminal justice system, my first thought was, surely things can’t be that bad.
Peter Merry, head of criminal justice for the force, said, “We have been looking at a system which is based on the traditions of aboriginal tribes, but in a more modern context has been widely used in Canada.” Note the striking absence of the word “successfully” between the words “used” and “in”. I can only imagine that Peter got the idea after watching Disney’s Pocahontas because he can’t have actually met anyone from our aboriginal tribes. Helpfully, the Daily Mail has published a photo of Chief Aatsista-Mahkan of the Siksika First Nation tribe. Things have gone downhill since the photograph was taken: in 2005 during a family argument on the reserve (east of Calgary) a 14 month old child was shot in the head.
Throughout Canada there are a number of Indian reserves where different tribes (or bands) live. Quite why these reserves are full of drugs, guns and alcohol is open to question, but broadly speaking there are two arguments:
1. Native people are still suffering from years of discrimination and cruelty at the hands of white settlers; their lands and way of life have been taken from them and they are not able to adjust to this new modern way of life that has been thrust upon them.
2. Government policy, in the form of vast amounts of federal funds, has made native people wards of the state. Consequently they no-longer have to take responsibility for their own actions and can act like children. Children with guns, drugs and booze.
Locally, places like Hobbema (pop. 12,000) have been keeping the Mounties busy for a while. The town is south of Edmonton and home to four colorfully named local bands: Samson Cree Nation, Ermineskin Tribe, Montana First Nation and Louis Bull Tribe. But if you are coming to visit and want to experience native culture first hand then it’s also worth bearing in mind that Hobbema averages 4 or 5 drive-by shootings a night and in April this year made the national news when one such drive-by resulted in the shooting of 23-month old Asa Saddleback. The town is also an excellent recruiting ground for violent native gangs including Redd Alert, Indian Posse and Alberta Warriors.
In January this year, in the Yellow Quill Indian Reserve in North Saskatchewan, local man Christopher Pauchay got drunk and decided to take his two daughters aged 3 and 16 months for a walk. It was -50 degrees outside and the girls were only wearing diapers and T-Shirts. Pauchay managed to find his way to a neighbour’s house suffering from hypothermia but the two girls weren’t so lucky and were found frozen to death the following day. By an amazing coincidence the children’s mother, Tracey Jimmy, was also drunk on the night her children were killed.
Pauchay was arrested for criminal negligence and in a break from the naïve, pastoral, idyllic, rural life he had hitherto enjoyed, enlisted the services of top defence lawyer Ron Piche. On the advice of Piche, and facing the probability of doing some jail time for killing his two children, Pauchay decided to plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of his own First Nation sentencing circle back at the rez*. Naturally, Piche is saying his client is a new man and the sentencing circle will recognize the fact that he’s remorseful and really sorry. Pauchay is saying he prefers the sentencing circle option because it means he won’t have to relate the traumatic deaths of his own two children, he can also be pretty sure that he won’t do any jail time. In a triumph of hope over experience, Tracey and Christopher have had another child.
I’m sure that if the Norfolk town of East Dereham (pop. 15,000) was averaging 4 or 5 drive-by shootings a night and was suffering epidemic levels of alcoholism and child neglect, then Norfolk Police might have more to worry about that trying to introduce a sentencing circle.
Special treatment for minorities, alternative justice systems and sparing people from the consequences of their actions are not just Canadian issues of course, but it’s interesting to see how the solutions are much the same wherever you go.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, controversy involving booze, violence and the police:
You can see the video with commentary on the Daily Mail website here.
Peter Merry, head of criminal justice for the force, said, “We have been looking at a system which is based on the traditions of aboriginal tribes, but in a more modern context has been widely used in Canada.” Note the striking absence of the word “successfully” between the words “used” and “in”. I can only imagine that Peter got the idea after watching Disney’s Pocahontas because he can’t have actually met anyone from our aboriginal tribes. Helpfully, the Daily Mail has published a photo of Chief Aatsista-Mahkan of the Siksika First Nation tribe. Things have gone downhill since the photograph was taken: in 2005 during a family argument on the reserve (east of Calgary) a 14 month old child was shot in the head.
Throughout Canada there are a number of Indian reserves where different tribes (or bands) live. Quite why these reserves are full of drugs, guns and alcohol is open to question, but broadly speaking there are two arguments:
1. Native people are still suffering from years of discrimination and cruelty at the hands of white settlers; their lands and way of life have been taken from them and they are not able to adjust to this new modern way of life that has been thrust upon them.
2. Government policy, in the form of vast amounts of federal funds, has made native people wards of the state. Consequently they no-longer have to take responsibility for their own actions and can act like children. Children with guns, drugs and booze.
Locally, places like Hobbema (pop. 12,000) have been keeping the Mounties busy for a while. The town is south of Edmonton and home to four colorfully named local bands: Samson Cree Nation, Ermineskin Tribe, Montana First Nation and Louis Bull Tribe. But if you are coming to visit and want to experience native culture first hand then it’s also worth bearing in mind that Hobbema averages 4 or 5 drive-by shootings a night and in April this year made the national news when one such drive-by resulted in the shooting of 23-month old Asa Saddleback. The town is also an excellent recruiting ground for violent native gangs including Redd Alert, Indian Posse and Alberta Warriors.
In January this year, in the Yellow Quill Indian Reserve in North Saskatchewan, local man Christopher Pauchay got drunk and decided to take his two daughters aged 3 and 16 months for a walk. It was -50 degrees outside and the girls were only wearing diapers and T-Shirts. Pauchay managed to find his way to a neighbour’s house suffering from hypothermia but the two girls weren’t so lucky and were found frozen to death the following day. By an amazing coincidence the children’s mother, Tracey Jimmy, was also drunk on the night her children were killed.
Pauchay was arrested for criminal negligence and in a break from the naïve, pastoral, idyllic, rural life he had hitherto enjoyed, enlisted the services of top defence lawyer Ron Piche. On the advice of Piche, and facing the probability of doing some jail time for killing his two children, Pauchay decided to plead guilty and throw himself on the mercy of his own First Nation sentencing circle back at the rez*. Naturally, Piche is saying his client is a new man and the sentencing circle will recognize the fact that he’s remorseful and really sorry. Pauchay is saying he prefers the sentencing circle option because it means he won’t have to relate the traumatic deaths of his own two children, he can also be pretty sure that he won’t do any jail time. In a triumph of hope over experience, Tracey and Christopher have had another child.
I’m sure that if the Norfolk town of East Dereham (pop. 15,000) was averaging 4 or 5 drive-by shootings a night and was suffering epidemic levels of alcoholism and child neglect, then Norfolk Police might have more to worry about that trying to introduce a sentencing circle.
Special treatment for minorities, alternative justice systems and sparing people from the consequences of their actions are not just Canadian issues of course, but it’s interesting to see how the solutions are much the same wherever you go.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, controversy involving booze, violence and the police:
You can see the video with commentary on the Daily Mail website here.
The original post can be found http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/tonto-need-good-lawyer-kemo-sabe.html
On the Flip Side
written by 200 from 200 Weeks
I took one of my kids to a birthday party last night. As the dutiful dad, I collected again some time after midnight.
I pulled up outside the venue to see the usual gaggles of teenagers, some more drunk than others, hanging around in little groups & starting to make their way home, or elsewhere.
It was pretty cold & a little damp, nevertheless, I saw at least 3 girls who could no longer walk in their heels and were carrying them. One of them couldn’t bare to walk along the rough path & headed for the nearest grass verge, doubtless to get a little bit of frostbite from the freezing wet conditions, if not a piece of dog crap or two nicely mingled between the toes.
Their biggest mistake, these girls, was to do it here & not in Torbay, where the local Old Bill would have swooped down in their public order transits & handed out a complimentary set of flip-flops. Yes, police are part of a £30,000 campaign to give out flip flops to drunken female revelers so they can get home safely after a night of booze & clubbing.
Of course, the local senior officers are putting a different aspect on the scheme.
Superintendent Chris Singer said: “It’s not simply so that people can get home in comfort. It gives us the opportunity for us to talk to these young people and get over safety messages to them. We’re making sure we take every opportunity to engage with people and talk to them about keeping themselves safe.” (Note: You can’t talk to people these days; you have engage with them.)
Hmmm, so you can’t just stand outside a nightclub & tell people to ‘be safe’ you have to spend £30,000 & come up with some hair-brained scheme to get some publicity & some tea & medals on the chief constable’s lawn?
I’d have thought by the time that vulnerable girls pour themselves half-cut onto the streets at 3 in the morning, it’s a bit late to be handing out safety advice. I’m not sure what flip flops are going to do to protect females. From memory most of the women in casualty in the early hours are either suffering from wounds inflicted by males they know, have been sexually assaulted in some way or are comatose through alcohol abuse. I don’t recall seeing that many who have suffered a footwear related calamity.
Perhaps they’re supposed to beat a prospective attacker around the head with the flat end of a pink flip-flop, the attacker could also read the helpful crime prevention message on the flip-flop just before it takes his eye out, “don’t attack women!”, two birds with one stone, and all that.
It kind of harks back to yesterday’s post about nobody willing to take responsibility for their own actions. Perhaps a better use of £30,000 might be for the police to invest in loudhailers & get them to drive round the estates reminding girls to wear their own sensible shoes before they leave home for the alcohol parlours.
The original post can be found http://200weeks.police999.com/archives/971