[sunnykerr]

Makes you wonder why they haven't been doing it all along.

[sunnykerr]

Newborn 'safe and sound' after hospital abduction A one-day-old baby who was taken from a hospital in Trois-Rivieres, Que., has been located unharmed. Police said a woman dressed as a nurse entered Ville-Marie hospital Monday night and took a baby wrapped in a blue blanket. Witnesses said there was a "frantic moment" just after the woman walked out of the hospital room with the baby, CTV News' Montreal Bureau Chief Genevieve Beauchemin said. The woman then drove away in a red Toyota Yaris with a “Baby on Board” sign. The abduction prompted an Amber Alert at about 7 p.m. Monday night that lasted for three hours. A suspect in the abduction, a woman in her 30s, was arrested at her home and is due in court on Tuesday. Sgt. Joyce Kemp, from the Quebec provincial police, said the baby is doing well. "The suspect was found at her home safe with the baby, the baby is safe and sound, and the woman has been arrested," Kemp said. Beauchemin said that the baby was located relatively quickly, thanks in part to the amber alert and social media. "It was really a story of the social media machine getting into working order, because after the amber alert was issued it was just passed around everywhere," she said. Officials from the hospital said they will look into the incident to try and understand how the baby could have been taken.

Thank goodness she's back, safe and sound, with her parents.

But I can't imagine what those poor people went through.

How can they ever trust the hospital or anyone ever again?

I mean, they'll have to, obviously.

But I just can't imagine how I would be able to get over something like that.

[Ann357]

I hope Mr. Morgan has a very hard time in jail...

NJ dad gets life in prison for tossing daughter into creek FREEHOLD, N.J. - A New Jersey man who tossed his 2-year-old daughter into a creek while she was strapped into her car seat apologized Wednesday - but not for murdering the child. Instead, just before he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, Arthur Morgan III apologized to the child's mother for the breakdown of their relationship. "I want to say I'm sorry for the deterioration of what I thought was a beautiful friendship between the two of us that blossomed into a daughter," Morgan told Imani Benton. "For anybody that was truly affected by this, I hope we can all heal from this situation, knowing Tierra is in a better place." Given the chance to explain his actions to Superior Court Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr., Morgan complained that the media published photos that made him look inappropriately angry or happy, and said he would not have worn designer clothing to court if he knew he would be criticized for it. He also said his courtroom wink following his conviction was to reassure his sister he was not upset at the verdict. Morgan was found guilty last month of murdering Tierra Morgan-Glover by tossing her into a New Jersey creek, strapped into a car seat and weighed down by a tire jack, in November 2011. The girl's mother, who wore a dress embroidered with Tierra's name and photos attached to it, said she hopes Morgan suffers in prison. "I don't understand why she was taken from me," Benton said. "It does give me peace to know that she is in Heaven with God, and (Morgan) will pay for what he did to her, to me and to everyone else. No good will come to him." Both the prosecutor and the judge lamented that New Jersey has abolished the death penalty. "You'd be candidate No. 1 for its imposition," Mellaci told Morgan. "Your actions were horrific, unthinkable and appalling. "This child was alive when she was placed in the water in pitch darkness, and had to suffer the unthinkable action of having water rush in and fill her lungs while strapped into that car seat," the judge said. "This child suffered before she died." Prosecutors alleged Morgan killed the girl because he was angry that Benton had broken off their relationship. "It was because he wanted Imani and he couldn't have her," prosecutor Marc LeMieux said. "So he took away the one precious thing in her life." In court Wednesday, Morgan began to reassert allegations of abuse against Benton's family that he made in a letter he sent her from jail, but the judge cut him off, directing him to speak about the act of killing his daughter. Mellaci said there was no evidence the girl was mistreated in any way before her death. But in rambling comments that repeatedly sought to portray himself as a heroic figure wrongly maligned, Morgan asserted he was a good father. "As a father, my job was to provide and protect," he said. "All my actions prior to this were to make sure Tierra was safe and Imani was comfortable."

Arthur Morgan III, New Jersey man, gets life in prison for tossing daughter in creek - CBS News

[sunnykerr]

I'm sure whatever amount of time he spends in prison will be interesting.

Prisons are notorious for this, aren't they?

You simply don't do well "inside" when you're in there for crimes against children.

[Ann357]

Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post) You simply don't do well "inside" when you're in there for crimes against children.

I can't help but hope you are correct.

[sunnykerr]

Inasmuch as there's every reason to believe he will probably eventually be released into society, I hope they get to the bottom of what the heck is wrong with that man.

[sunnykerr]

Most Canadians believe selling sex shouldn't be illegal, survey reveals More than half of Canadians think purchasing sexual services should be illegal, but selling them should not be a criminal offence, according to a new government survey. More than 31,000 people responded to an online survey conducted by the Department of Justice to gauge the public’s attitude toward prostitution after a Supreme Court ruling struck down Canada’s anti-prostitution laws last December. However, the top court gave Parliament one year to come up with new legislation. Survey results show that most people favoured punishing those who solicited or profited from prostitution rather than prostitutes themselves. About two-thirds of respondents (66%) said selling sexual services should not be a criminal offence. Meanwhile, 56 per cent of respondents said that purchasing sexual services should be illegal. The majority (62%) also agreed that profiting from the prostitution of an adult should be a crime, though the survey noted that many in agreement thought “those who provide sexual services should be able to hire bodyguards and drivers, but that exploitive relationships (e.g. pimps) should be illegal.” The survey also indicated what limitations people would like to see on the sale of sexual services. Many responded with concerns about health inspections of brothels and medical testing for those providing services. Others mentioned that they didn’t want prostitution taking place in residential areas, or that they wanted activities confined to brothels. Ilona Dougherty, co-founder of youth political engagement group Apathy is Boring, said while she was surprised the Harper government asked for public input on the contentious issue, she didn’t think the results would be influential. “I think the Conservatives are going to really look to try to minimize the debate as much as possible, and really, the likelihood is we’ll probably end up with something similar to the laws that we had before,” she said during a discussion panel on CTV News Channel. The consultation, launched in February, came in response to a Supreme Court ruling that declared three of Canada’s prostitution provisions unconstitutional: keeping or being found in a bawdy house; living on the avails of prostitution; and communicating in public for the purpose of prostitution. While prostitution itself is legal in Canada, the prohibition of most activities related to sex work creates an unsafe environment for sex workers, the Supreme Court ruled. In striking down the provisions, the court gave the government one year to draft a legislative response before the ruling came into effect. Justice Minister Peter MacKay said Monday the survey responses would be taken into consideration. “The results of the online consultation today will be taken into account in our Government's legislative response to prostitution,” he said in a tweet. But at least one Toronto group is questioning the legitimacy of the survey. The survey was self-selecting, meaning the pool of respondents was made up of only those who chose to participate, rather than randomly selected individuals. In a statement, the Toronto Sex Workers’ Action Project (TSWAP) said this allowed people to complete the survey multiple times, potentially slanting the data. “The numbers could easily be skewed to support the Conservative government’s agenda to introduce legislation that would criminalize sex work,” said the group’s executive director Jean McDonald. Taylor Scollon, a former Liberal strategist, agreed that the unscientific poll shouldn’t be a deciding factor on policy and legislation. Still, he said, the issue needs to be addressed. “Sex workers in Canada are kept in the dark and subject to violence without recourse. It’s not a good situation for anybody involved,” he said. But TSWAP said that the country’s sex workers were not adequately consulted in the project. “I wouldn’t be asked to comment on employment standards in the fishing industry, so it begs the question as to why non-sex workers are considered the best source of information to inform legislation on the sex industry,” sex worker Vanessa D’Allesio said in the statement. The group said people don’t understand the impact that criminalizing clients and third parties has on sex-worker safety. “Decriminalization is the only system that will protect sex workers, by ensuring access to labour, legal and human rights,” they said. On its way to establishing the laws Canada will follow in the future, the government also provided background information for models used in other parts of the world. The “decriminalization/legalization” model used in countries like the Netherlands tries to reduce the harm caused by prostitution by legalizing and regulating the practice. At the other end of the spectrum is the “prohibition” model used in most of the U.S., which prohibits all purchasing and selling of sexual services. The third option – which seems most in line with the Canadian views expressed in the survey – is called the “abolition” or “Nordic” model, and is used in countries like Sweden and Norway. This system seeks to abolish prostitution by punishing those who use and exploit sex workers, but decriminalizes prostitution and assists the victims of sexual exploitation through programs.

I have to say, I hope this is what the government goes with, as a model.

I mean, it doesn't make sense to me to punish the prostitutes.

They should be protected.

[sunnykerr]

LA jail conditions 'unconstitutional' The condition of mental healthcare inside Los Angeles County jails is so poor that it is unconstitutional, the US justice department has said. The "deplorable" conditions violated a ban on cruel and unusual punishment in the US Constitution, its report said. Jail officials, it said, had failed to address a "dramatic increase" in suicides over the past two years. But the sheriff's office said it was "disappointed" the report "fails to fully recognise" improvements made. "The report also mischaracterises and significantly understates the incredible efforts made to improve our suicide prevention practices," the sheriff's office said in statement. The US justice department said the nation's largest jail system - with about 19,000 prisoners - had completed some of the reforms required by a 2002 court agreement. It also applauded steps to expand community supervision programmes, saying a rapid increase in the number of prisoners who are seriously mentally ill was putting the system under strain. But it said "serious systemic deficiencies" and "deplorable environmental conditions" remained for those being held at the jail, violating the US constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Among the criticisms in the report was a lack of response to an increase in suicides and suicide attempts at county jails. "Fifteen suicides in 25 months produced almost no discernible change in the jails' custodial practices," the report said. Other findings include: a lack of timely safety checks for inmates, even for those in mental health housing living conditions that "present, rather than prevent, a risk of suicide" jail and mental health staff do not communicate "suicide precautions are punitive in nature, even depriving some prisoners of a mattress to sleep on" The sheriff's office said it remains committed to working with the Justice Department on the issues. Jails in the US are generally for people being locked up in the short-term, but the prison system throughout the state of California, where inmates serve longer sentences, has also come under scrutiny for overcrowding.

I know I must come off as something of a bleeding heart when it comes to issues rergarding the treatment of prisoners.

I assure you, mine isn't a problem where I feel bad for criminals.

I'm just trying to live in a society where I can be satisfied that it's a good place to live in.

And the way we treat criminals in prison has an impact on that, because it reflects the kind of people we are, but also because those people are usually likely to be released eventually.

Conditions that create rather than prevent suicide among inmates with mental-health problems is not acceptable to me.

[canflam]

Accused Seattle Gunman suffers severe mental illness, his lawyer says

[sunnykerr]

Well, it's his lawyer's job to say that, right?

[baelfire24]

2 dead, including suspect, in Oregon school shooting

[canflam]

That's less than 30 miles from here. Very sad.

[sunnykerr]

Just terrible.

[sunnykerr]

Sex workers rally across Canada to protest prostitution legislation TORONTO -- The Harper government's proposed crackdown on johns and pimps would leave prostitutes just as open to violence as under the old sex laws struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada, sex workers and their supporters said Saturday. In what was billed as a national day of action, rallies against the government's new prostitution legislation were planned in several cities across the country. Dozens of demonstrators gathered around red umbrellas -- the sex trade's symbol of independence -- in a downtown Toronto park to speak out against the proposed law, which would criminalize the purchase of sexual services, target those who benefit from prostitution and outlaw the sale of sex near schools and other places where children gather. "This will simply move sex workers out into more isolated and more marginalized areas of the city, and in many ways this legislation is a gift to sexual predators," said Jean McDonald, head of support group Maggie's. "It means they can't work in groups to watch out for one another and say 'I'll be back in half an hour.' And people who would do women harm, who would do sex workers harm, will know this." She said that, with the bill, the Conservatives are "spitting in the face" of the Supreme Court's landmark prostitution decision and ignoring the vital input of sex workers. The legislation would also make illegal the sale of sex through print media or the Internet, and ban communicating for the purpose of selling sexual services in public places where a child could reasonably be expected to be present. Additionally, it would criminalize financially benefiting from the prostitution of others, including through online sex businesses or venues such as escort agencies and massage parlours. Monica Forrester, who works as a prostitute, said the proposed bundle of new offences would continue to leave those in the sex trade exposed to violence -- a key factor in the top court's ruling. "We're dealing with high levels of unsafe work conditions now navigating the laws that were struck down. These new proposed laws would just make it worse for sex workers to actually navigate services around safety, to work safely." "Because the johns are being criminalized too, this actually puts a fear factor (in place) for a lot of johns which in turn brings on more violence," said Forrester. The new prostitution-related offences are intended to reduce demand for sexual services, shield sex workers from exploitation and safeguard children and communities. The legislation is the government's response to the Supreme Court of Canada's decision last December striking down chief elements of the country's prostitution laws. In Montreal, a few dozen people took part in a dance party against the proposed law in a downtown city square. They danced to club hits blasted from speakers and handed out flyers to passersby explaining their opposition to the bill. Several held up signs declaring "Decriminalization saves lives!" Anna-Louise Crago, a former sex worker who now does research on the issue, called the bill "an absolutely devastating setback for sex workers." "I believe it will fuel abuse, violence and exploitation, and fundamentally it will cost sex workers lives," she said. The rallies come days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended the bill, saying that activities related to the sex trade are outlawed because they are harmful to women and society in general. "They are not harmful because they are illegal," Harper said Monday. "They are illegal because they are harmful." Under the old laws, prostitution itself was actually legal but almost all related activities -- including communicating in a public place for the purposes of prostitution, pimping and running a brothel -- were criminal offences. The Supreme Court declared them in violation of the Charter of Rights and gave Parliament a year to address the situation.

It's a good thing to crack down on the johns and the pimps, obviously.

But not accompanying with protection of the sex workers is the problematic part.

Yeah, protecting children from prostitution is probably a good thing.

But they've kept it so vague that it's left women completely vulnerable.

Again, legislating morality is not the way to go.

[sunnykerr]

Japan bans child pornography possession Japan has banned the possession of child sex-abuse images, one of the last developed countries to do so. The new law states that anyone found with such images can be jailed for up to a year, or fined up to $10,000 (£6,000). The ban does not apply to animation or to comic art known as manga. Japan was previously the only country in the 34-strong Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) without such a prohibition. Opponents of the bill say that freedom of expression needs to be protected in a country that once suffered heavy government censorship. Analysts say there was strong resistance from manga artists, free-speech advocates and publishers. They said it would impinge on freedom of expression and allow authorities to make arbitrary decisions about art. The Japan Magazine Publishers' Association, which represents over 90 publishing companies, posted a statement on its website earlier in June saying the law could "put a strain" on artists and publishing culture. The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo says Japan is still considered one of the world centres for the exchange and consumption of images of child sexual abuse. Crimes related to child sexual abuse have reportedly been on the rise in Japan. Police uncovered 1,644 cases last year, about 10 times higher than a decade ago. More than half of the cases involved sharing or selling photos or videos over the internet, police said. The new law will allow those who do possess such material a year to get rid of it. Japan had earlier banned the production and distribution of child pornography in 1999.

It's about time.

I've got no problem with the "loophole" regarding anime and manga, so long as there are laws in place to protect real, live children.