Book Review: David Cayley, "The Expanding Prison" and Ross Green, "Justice In Aboriginal Communities"

Abstract

The Supreme Court has recently commented that Canada's high rates of incarceration "cannot instill a sense of pride", It stressed the need for creative alternatives to imprisonment, especially with respect to Aboriginal people who are drastically over-represented among prisoners. Two recent books provide helpful background and possible antidotes to Canada's reliance on incarceration.

The Expanding Prison is written by writer and broadcaster David Cayley. It grew out of his interviews with the Norwegian criminologist Nils Christie for the radio show Ideas.

Justice in Aboriginal Communities is written by Saskatchewan lawyer Ross Gordon Green who after almost a decade as a criminal defence lawyer returned to school and completed a LL.M. on sentencing alternatives in six remote communities in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan.