Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb
<p>The <em>Journal of CSWB</em> is a<strong> peer-reviewed</strong> and<strong> open access</strong> publication that is positioned to be the authoritative global resource for high-impact research that, uniquely, spans all human service and criminal justice sectors, with an emphasis on their intersections and collaborations. The Journal showcases the latest research, whether originating from within Canada or from around the world, that is relevant to Canadian and international communities and professionals. </p>SG Publishing Inc.en-USJournal of Community Safety and Well-Being2371-4298<p>Copyright of any article published in the <em>Journal of CSWB </em>is retained by the Author(s). Authors grant the Journal a <a href="https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/LtP">License to Publish</a> their article upon acceptance. Articles published in the Journal are distributed under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0</a> license. For commercial re-use, please contact SG Publishing Inc. (<a href="mailto:sales@sgpublishing.ca">sales@sgpublishing.ca</a>).</p>Collaborations for CSWB: The groups that everyone needs to join
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/381
Scott C. Allen
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2024-03-142024-03-14911210.35502/jcswb.381Enhancing organizational well-being and growth: The value of ombud services and the development of ombud consultation evaluation survey
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/375
<p>The role of an organizational ombud (formerly ombudsman) is increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to fostering a healthy workplace environment. This specialized service offers an impartial, confidential, informal, and independent resource for employees and executives, addressing their concerns, mediating conflicts, and promoting fair treatment within the organization. While the role of an ombud may vary from one organization to another, this article sheds light on the findings of our ombud’s office and its contribution to the health of an organization. The ombud consultation evaluation survey serves as a valuable tool for organizations to simultaneously safeguard the health of their employees and the health of their business. The ombud confidential services serve as a cornerstone of organizational health, contributing to enhanced employee satisfaction, improved conflict resolution, ethical compliance, increased productivity, and reduced legal risks.</p>Katy KamkarMario Baril
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2024-03-142024-03-1491525910.35502/jcswb.375Addressing gender-based violence in Saskatchewan through second-stage housing: an overview of research and setting new directions
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/376
<p>Saskatchewan, Canada, has some of the highest rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in Canada, with statistics double the national average. The government of Saskatchewan does not substantively fund second-stage housing – a key mitigating solution to GBV. Nor does the province have a related action plan to reduce this violence and enhance the safety of women, gender non-conforming people, and children who are disproportionally targeted by GBV. This article demonstrates the outcomes of a knowledge synthesis on the intersection of GBV and second-stage housing across Canada. This research used an intersectional feminist approach to guide a literature review and NVivo analysis. This article’s results section demonstrates the importance of second-stage housing as it relates to the mitigation of GBV. The discussion section offers various recommendations collected across Canada that can be used in Saskatchewan to bolster the existing non-profit sector that supports victims and survivors of GBV through enhanced public funding and related supports from the provincial and federal governments. The article concludes by identifying three viable and urgent areas for future research: first, investigate the potential correlation between GBV rates and second-stage housing to examine whether support for second-stage funding impacts GBV rates. Second, identify and develop alternative assessment and evaluation metrics that shift quantitative reporting standards to qualitative understandings of success. Third, examine the interconnection between settler colonization and GBV that disproportionality targets Indigenous women through strengths-based, decolonial, Indigenous-led frameworks that are culturally appropriate and responsive.</p>Emily GraftonAmber J. FletcherCrystal J. GiesbrechtTmira Marchment
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2024-03-142024-03-14913810.35502/jcswb.376Barriers and bridges: Exploring the introduction of meditation and mindfulness training into Canadian policing
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/374
<p>Canadian police organizations are under significant pressure to enhance the health and wellness of their employees. Growing research suggests that training in meditation and mindfulness can contribute to the well-being of police personnel and may even be a catalyst for police reform. Limited research, however, has been conducted that seeks to understand how these practices should be introduced into Canadian police organizations. This article contributes to this understanding by sharing results from an exploratory study that asked 11 Commissioned Officers, who regularly practice meditation, to identify the key factors that should be considered when introducing mindfulness practice into their large Canadian police service. Using semi-structured interviews and focus groups, and guided by a reflexive thematic analysis approach, six themes were developed. These can be viewed as both barriers (invincibility and stigma; overworked and overstressed; and checkbox cynicism) and bridges (credible champions; the whole person perspective; and the philosophy of servant leadership) to the successful introduction of meditation and mindfulness practices into Canadian police organizations. This study advances the literature on introducing mindfulness to policing as it is one of the first to focus on the perceptions of mindfulness practicing Commissioned Police Officers. It also offers practical suggestions for police leaders, and leaders from other public safety professions, to consider when contemplating the introduction of these mental practices into their organizations.</p>Les Sylven
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2024-03-142024-03-149191810.35502/jcswb.374RREACT: A mobile multidisciplinary response to overdose
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/360
<p>Opioid overdose is a leading cause of death in the United States, and engaging with patients following overdose to provide harm reduction and recovery resources can prove difficult. Quick response models use mobile, multidisciplinary teams to establish a time-sensitive connection between individuals who overdosed and harm reduction and recovery resources that improve outcomes. These quick response models are consistent with the broader field of mobile-integrated health programs that are growing in number and acceptability, though the literature base is sparse and programs vary. We describe the 5-year reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance (RE-AIM) framework of the Rapid Response Emergency Addiction and Crisis Team (RREACT), a fire/emergency medical services-led, multidisciplinary (firefighter/paramedic, law enforcement officer, social worker) mobile outreach team. RREACT provides harm reduction, linkage/transportation to care and wrap-around services to individuals following a nonfatal opioid overdose that resulted in an emergency response in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, United States. Between 2018 and 2022, RREACT made 22,157 outreach attempts to 11,739 unique patients. RREACT recorded 3,194 direct patient contacts during this time, resulting in 1,200 linkages to care: 799 direct transports to opioid use disorder treatment and 401 warm handoffs to community<br />treatment agencies. Furthermore, RREACT’s staffing increased from 4 full-time equivalent staff in 2018 to 15.5 in 2022 and was supported by the surrounding community through 287 community outreach events and the development of an alumni program. These preliminary results further support the deployment of multidisciplinary mobile outreach teams to increase access to harm reduction and recovery resources following opioid overdose.</p>Alexander J. UlintzRebecca J. McCloskeyGretchen Clark HammondMatthew ParrishIsaac ToliverAlina SharafutdinovaMichael S. Lyons
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2024-03-142024-03-1491192610.35502/jcswb.360Trends and patterns of terrorist attacks targeting the police in Nigeria, 2009–2022
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/344
<p>In Nigeria, terrorist attacks targeting police officers and police facilities have continued to gain momentum since 2009. However, in spite of the intensity of the problem, it is yet to command tangible scholarly attention. Against this background, this study investigates the trends and patterns of terrorist attacks targeted against the police in Nigeria between 2009 and 2022. An exploratory research design was adopted, and data were principally sourced through the content analysis of a corpus of two purposively selected Nigerian national newspapers’ coverage of the recorded incidents of terrorist attacks that were directed at police officers. The results showed that 455 cases of such attacks were recorded between 2009 and 2022. Incidents of terrorist attacks targeting police officers were recorded in nearly all the states of the federation, with Borno State having the largest share (42.9%). Also, the largest single share of the incidents (29.2%) happened in 2021 with the highest percentage of police fatalities (24.8%) occurring in the same year. The majority of the attacks (51.9%) occurred within police stations. Indigenous People of Biafra (32.1%) and Boko Haram (31.2%) were the terrorist groups responsible for most of the attacks on police officers. Terrorist attacks hold multiple serious deleterious consequences for the Nigeria Police Force. Thus, it is important for the law enforcement agency to develop a functional institutional framework through which police officers can be adequately exposed to professional counter-terrorism training and strategies. </p>Usman A. OjedokunNoah O. BalogunMuazu I. MijinyawaOluwatobi A. Bolujoko
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2024-03-142024-03-1491273210.35502/jcswb.344The need for a Canadian Criminal Code offence of coercive control
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/362
<p>Canada is currently considering legislating an offence of coercive control. Coercive controlling behaviour is currently criminalized in the UK, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and New South Wales, Australia. Potential benefits of the implementation of a coercive control offence in Canada include enhancing victim/survivor safety with access to protective orders; allowing police to respond in situations where physical violence is not occurring and, importantly, respond in a way that is reflective of the type of violence being enacted and the assessed risk; moving beyond an incident-based view of intimate partner violence to recognize patterns; improving perpetrator accountability and opportunities for risk management; sending a clear message that these behaviours are unacceptable; enhancing public awareness of coercive control; bringing the <em>Criminal Code</em> in line with other recent legislation; and creating consistency between family and criminal courts. This article summarizes the concept of coercive control, including gendered implications and risks for domestic homicide; the need for a coercive control offence, including support from professionals; and guidance for the implementation of a coercive control offence, including promising practices from international legislation, risk assessment, training for police and other professionals, and evaluation and data gathering.</p>Crystal J Giesbrecht
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2024-03-142024-03-1491333910.35502/jcswb.362Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs) in combatting anti-Black racism and reducing recidivism
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/361
<p>The Gladue report, named after <em>R. v. Gladue</em>, is a landmark Supreme Court of Canada case which emphasizes the need to consider unique circumstances faced by Indigenous individuals when determining appropriate sentences. Given the overrepresentation of Black identities at all levels in the justice system, it is argued that the use of pre-sentencing reports referred to as Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs), also needs to be comprehensively implemented for Black offenders in Canada. IRCAs are pre-sentencing reports that help sentencing judges better understand the effect of poverty, marginalization, racism, and social exclusion on the offender and their life experiences, and how those factors inform the circumstances of the offender, the offence committed, and the offender’s experience with the justice system. This is significant as it goes beyond a one-size-fits-all punitive justice system that has been ineffective in reducing recidivism. By recognizing the intersections of race, culture, and justice, IRCAs enable judges to make more informed decisions contributing to an equitable consequence for the accused. More importantly, we argue that the insights from IRCAs should be used to connect offenders with culturally reflective wraparound social services upon return into the community to address the root causes in areas of employment, education, and housing that gravitate people towards criminality. By acknowledging historical and systemic biases and tailoring supports to individual identities, life experiences, and community conditions, IRCAs have the potential to transform the criminal justice system through promotion of alternatives to custody that correlates with reductions in recidivism.</p>Ardavan EizadiradGregory Leslie
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2024-03-142024-03-1491404510.35502/jcswb.361Safe and welcoming “warm hubs”: Building social connections and inclusion in Welsh communities
https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/370
<p>This article is based on research into the development of “warm hubs” in one Welsh city where community organizations and public buildings offered a warm place to access refreshments, food and local support. These hubs (also described as “warm spaces”) aimed to provide a “safe, warm and welcoming” universal offer to all residents. Drawing on qualitative data from those visiting and coordinating the hubs, the research found evidence which suggests the warm hubs largely met their intended aims. The roll out of the scheme was found to be beneficial in responding to the cost-of-living crisis in post-COVID Wales, but it also contributed to the safety and well-being of communities. A key finding was that the hubs were perceived to have broader societal benefits in developing social connections, promoting inclusivity and reducing social isolation. Warm hubs also promoted digital inclusion, although older attendees preferred face-to-face connections. Further research could consider the role of warm hubs within broader, longer-term strategies for addressing inequalities in communities.</p>Ella C. Rabaiotti
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2024-03-142024-03-1491465110.35502/jcswb.370