s-10
Tough — or dumb— on crime?
By Editorial - Comox Valley Record
Anybody who has ever been victimized by crime remembers the effect it had — and perhaps is still having — on them.
A sense of innocence, trust or security can be lost — irretrievably in some cases.
Being doubly victimized by a Canadian legal system that bends over backwards to ensure the accused gets a fair trial might create a feeling of betrayal.
The Stephen Harper government is tapping into these feelings on top of the existing anti-crime element of its ideology.
No politician — or editor — wants to appear soft on crime, which might explain why few political opponents criticized the Conservatives’ Safe Streets and Communities Act during Question Period. Read more »
Ignatieff signals opposition to crime bills
By: Dale Smith, Xtra NewsWith several tough-on-crime bills heading for debate in the Commons next month — including Bill S-10, which would see mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana possession and baking pot brownies — the question has largely been where the Liberals will stand on the bills.
At a press conference at the end of the Liberals' winter caucus in Ottawa, leader Michael Ignatieff signalled that his party was ready to oppose them.
Asked if the Liberals were taking a harder line, Ignatieff spoke about recent town hall meetings in Winnipeg North, where the Liberals recently won a by-election.
Tories don't let evidence guide decision making
The StarPhoenixAccording to federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, the Conservative government doesn't govern based on the latest statistics.
Defending the Stephen Harper government's "get tough on crime" agenda Monday on the CBC Radio program, The Current, Mr. Nicholson said critics keep insisting: "You have to use the statistics and the measuring sticks we want. I say you can't do that."
His statement is much more illuminating than the ongoing controversy over the Tories' decision to make voluntary Canadians' responding to the long-form census. The data obtained from the previously mandatory responses had been used to glean a wide range of statistically valid information about Canadians.
When did Canada go from laid-back to straight-laced on marijuana policy?
By Marc-Boris St.-Maurice, The MarkI can totally understand why legendary stoner comedians Cheech and Chong might be tempted to take a shot at Harper. OK, I think calling the prime minister a “douchebag” is overly harsh language – I always thought you could catch more flies with honey – but as actors they can get away with it.
Conservatives' irrational crime laws make no sense, cost billions of dollars
By Neil Boyd, Special to the SunIn these days of public sector restraint, there is one realm of waste that is often neglected -the planned and pointless expenditure of billions of tax dollars on new provincial and federal prisons, the consequence of a series of Conservative crime bills.
Never mind that Canada already is a global leader in rates of incarceration, far ahead of almost all of the nation states of Western Europe -and, perhaps paradoxically, Canada typically has higher rates of crime.
The more interesting and relevant finding from recent research is that rates of imprisonment and rates of crime are not related in any systematic way, from one nation state to the next.
Society pays price for crime fixation
The Ottawa CitizenThe Conservatives' fixation on crime despite a decline in crime rates would be beyond comprehension were it not for the fact that tough-on-crime measures do well in opinion polls.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page's report shows how much money the government will spend to fight this mythical crime wave. I have no axe to grind about paying taxes, but I do expect some basic openness about how public funds are spent. So why is the government withholding information about the costs of these bills from Page, the media and the public?
Minimum sentencing rules could cost provinces
By Alison Crawford, CBC NewsThe federal government's rules regarding mandatory minimum sentences will cut into the bottom line of the provinces, some critics warn.
Parliament has already passed legislation that establishes mandatory minimum sentences for impaired driving and serious firearms offences. Now, another bill focused on organized drug crimes is before the Senate.
Mandatory minimums will lead to longer sentences behind bars and require additional prison space. But NDP justice critic Joe Comartin says there are also additional prosecution costs to mandatory minimum sentences.
Canada's inhumane prison plan
By: Conrad Black, National PostIn the past two years, as regular readers in this space would know, thanks to my gracious hosts in the U.S. government, I have had what could be called extensive hands-on experience of the American correctional system. I have been tutoring and teaching fellow prisoners in English, and in U.S. history. And some of them have taught me how to read music, play the piano, keep fit, diet sensibly and assimilate some local folkways, while I have been fighting my way through the courts toward a just disposition of the few remaining (unfounded) charges that bedevil me. The fact that all my life any definition of Canada's virtue and distinctiveness has prominently included references to civility and decency explains my alarm and outrage at finally reading the three-year-old report on the Correctional Service of Canada, misleadingly titled "A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety."
As so often in other fields, this document seeks to import to Canada much of the worst of American practice, and none of the best, unless Canada now idealizes gratuitous official severity.
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