Suspension, not expungement: Rationalizing misguided policy decisions around cannabis amnesty in Canada

McAleese, Samantha

doi:10.1111/capa.12345

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…While there is no universal consensus on whether such efforts are justified or appropriate, or what best approaches are, such efforts have been selectively initiated in Canada and the US. However, whether this has led to improved and sustained “social justice” either at the individual or population level is unclear to date (Adinoff & Reiman, 2019; Ahrens, 2020; McAleese, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a “Post-Legalization” Criminology for Cannabis: A Brief Review and Suggested Agenda for Research Priorities

Fischer

Daldegan‐Bueno

Reuter

2020

Contemporary Drug Problems

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Cannabis control policies in a few countries have recently shifted from criminal prohibition-based regimes to legalization of use and supply. While cannabis’ newly emerging status of legality may suggest a coming “end” for criminology-based interest in the drug, these fundamental changes rather open a window to a new set of criminological research issues and questions, mostly focusing on cannabis use and related behaviors, and their relation to crime and justice. Based on a joint, personal record of several decades of criminological research on cannabis, we briefly review the rationale for five fundamental topics and issues of cannabis-related research associated with legalization. These include: 1) the deterrent effect of prohibition; 2) illicit production, markets and supply in a legalization regime; 3) use enforcement; 4) cannabis-impaired driving; 5) cannabis and crime. This constitutes an—albeit subjectively selective—“post-legalization” research agenda for a cannabis-focused criminology. Other possible areas of research focus or interest within fundamentally different paradigms of criminology (e.g., “critical criminology”) are identified and encouraged for development. Overall, the proposed research agenda for a post-legalization cannabis criminology should both contribute discipline-specific knowledge to improved cannabis-related public health and safety as well as allow for important debate and development in this evolving and important research field while entering a new (“post-legalization”) era.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a “Post-Legalization” Criminology for Cannabis: A Brief Review and Suggested Agenda for Research Priorities

Fischer

Daldegan‐Bueno

Reuter

2020

Contemporary Drug Problems

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“…discouraging" (Geneviève, Volunteer Coordinator and Court Support Worker), and many acknowledge it as a massive barrier faced by people with criminal records in the community. These comments reflect what has been said in the media(Bronskill & Cheadle, 2013;Campbell, 2019;Crawford, 2017;Gerster, 2019;McAleese, 2017b;Pate, 2021;Spratt & McAleese, 2019) in public consultation reports (Parole Board ofCanada, 2011Canada, , 2016bPublic Safety Canada, 2017), and in parliamentary committee meetings (seeMcAleese, 2019b) since the 2010 and 2012 changes to the Criminal Records Act. This…”

supporting

confidence: 59%

“…This work includes ongoing communications with policymakers, political staffers, and relevant Ministers and will require active participation in any consultation processes that follow once new legislation is drafted. I intend to mobilize this research as part of that process, analyze discussion and debate as I did with cannabis pardons (McAleese, 2019b), and continue to engage in advocacy alongside the penal voluntary sector on this issue.…”

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Again, I will speak to these additional connections with the penal voluntary sector and other advocates across the country below.As I began my doctoral studies and found myself out and away from the restrictive zone of doing political advocacy work within the penal voluntary sector, I continued "to create knowledge in the service of social transformation"(Wilson, Whitmore, & Calhoun, 2011, p.19). While this certainly involved writing and mobilizing my research in academic spaces(McAleese, 2017a(McAleese, , 2019a(McAleese, , 2019bMcAleese & Kilty, 2019), it also included other more public writings in the form of op-eds and public reports. I collaborated with the John Howard Society of Canada on a report funded by the Canadian Bar Association to raise awareness of the impacts of the record suspension regime and to offer suggestions for reform (see: McAleese & Latimer, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying, navigating, resisting, and eliminating structural stigma and the collateral consequences of punishment: The role of the penal voluntary sector in supporting people with criminal records in Canada

McAleese¹

Self Cite

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This dissertation examines how actors within Canada's penal voluntary sector identify, navigate, resist, and strive to eliminate structural stigma and collateral consequences of punishment. Using an approach to qualitative research informed by institutional ethnography, anti-oppressive practice, and public criminology, my research explores how practitioners attempt to support people with criminal records despite many exclusionary policies and practices -including those enforced by the penal voluntary sector itself -that create obstacles to various social domains (e.g., employment and housing). This research is motivated by my experience working in the penal voluntary sector during a period (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015) in which many punitive policies, including changes to Canada's Criminal Records Act, were brought into effect by a federal Conservative government and maintained by a subsequent Liberal government.To understand the penal voluntary sector's role in supporting people with criminal records in the community, I conducted twenty-two interviews with various sector actors. I also attended several conferences, meetings, and events alongside practitioners to stay connected to the sector and ensure an ongoing understanding of the important issues to people with criminal records and those who support them. Additionally, I incorporated analysis of texts (e.g., policies, forms/assessments, public consultation reports, parliamentary committee studies) to frame the political, institutional, and social relations that shape the day-to-day experiences of practitioners and the people they support in the community. Finally, I engaged public criminology as part of my research methodology and included reflections on my advocacy work throughout the dissertation.While critical sociologists and criminologists mostly describe the penal voluntary sector as a net-widening mechanism, I maintain that understanding the day-to-day work within the sector is crucial to identifying, navigating, resisting, and eventually eliminating structural stigma and collateral consequences of punishment. Additionally, I contend that spaces where practitioners meet (e.g., conferences) are key sites for developing communities of care through which academics, practitioners, advocates, and people with criminal records can work towards a just transition from penal and other related systems (e.g., homelessness). Finally, I reflect on academia's role in resisting and eliminating carceral power and structural stigma and on the lessons learned from my efforts at doing so. vi 5. Navigating .

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“…Additionally, for other positions, private employers frequently also request information on previous convictions during the recruitment process (Haslewood-Pócsik et al, 2008;Larrauri, 2014). Concurrently, an increase in CBCs in the labour market has been reported in other countries, such as Australia (Heydon & Naylor, 2018) and Canada (Greene et al, 2019;McAleese, 2019). For instance, Saliba (2013) detected that the percentage of job advertisements containing a request for CBCs in one of the leading newspapers in the Australian region of Victoria increased from 0% in 1993 to 8% in 2010.…”

Section: The Concomitant Growth In the Use Of Cbcs In Other Western A...mentioning

confidence: 84%

The global rise of criminal background checks

Rovira

2022

Preprint

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The extensive use of criminal background checks — the request for information on prior convictions for non-judicial purposes — creates obstacles to a fair re-integration of individuals with criminal records. Previous research has documented the growth in the use of criminal background checks in Western jurisdictions. However, much less is known about the evolution of criminal background checks in other parts of the world. In this study, I present and analyse an original dataset with information on requests for official criminal record certificates for non-judicial purposes in 52 countries. The results show that the use of criminal background checks for non-judicial purposes is rising in nearly every country measured. These findings advance our knowledge about the international character of a previously-ignored dimension of the globalisation of punitiveness.

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Suspension, not expungement: Rationalizing misguided policy decisions around cannabis amnesty in Canada

Cited by 11 publications

References 23 publications

Toward a “Post-Legalization” Criminology for Cannabis: A Brief Review and Suggested Agenda for Research Priorities

Toward a “Post-Legalization” Criminology for Cannabis: A Brief Review and Suggested Agenda for Research Priorities

Identifying, navigating, resisting, and eliminating structural stigma and the collateral consequences of punishment: The role of the penal voluntary sector in supporting people with criminal records in Canada

The global rise of criminal background checks

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