Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Surrey Leader Contact: http://www.surreyleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236 Author: Tom Fletcher Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) CRIME-FIGHTING STRATEGIES DON'T MATCH Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended his government's plan to create new gang-related offences in the Criminal Code during a visit to Vancouver Thursday, and promised to keep working on B.C.'s demands for reforms they say are more urgently needed. Federal opposition parties say they will support Conservative government bills that would: - - Create a new offence for drive-by and street shootings, with a mandatory minimum of four years in prison and a maximum of 14; - - Make murders connected to organized crime activity automatically subject to a first-degree murder charge; - - Create new offences of aggravated assault against a peace officer and assault with a weapon on a peace officer, with maximum sentences of 14 and 10 years. Liberal justice critic Ujjal Dosanjh said his party will support the new laws, but the federal government is making a mistake in not taking up B.C.'s priorities, such as ending the practice of giving convicted criminals double credit for time spent awaiting trial and updating 40-year-old wiretap laws. "The remand two-for-one credit has been an issue for several years, and this government should have acted on it," said Dosanjh, a former B.C. premier and attorney general. "The electronic surveillance issue has been there for a long, long time. In fact the Liberal government in 2005 brought a bill forward. That bill died on the order paper because of the election, and this government hasn't seen fit to bring that forward." Harper said progress has been slow with a minority government, but called stiffer penalties for violent crime "an indispensable part of toughening the criminal justice regime in this country." Going into his own meeting with Harper on Thursday, Premier Gordon Campbell said B.C.'s priorities, in addition to remand policy and wiretaps, include simplifying rules for disclosure of evidence. B.C. NDP public safety critic Mike Farnworth said that despite Campbell's recent announcement of more police and prosecutors to tackle organized crime, there are still staffing shortages that threaten to get worse in the years ahead. Farnworth endorsed the idea of modernizing wiretap laws to deal with cell phone and text message communication. He said the B.C. government dismissed his recent suggestion to regulate the sale of body armour, but now appears to be considering it. They should also ask Ottawa for a Criminal Code amendment to make use of body armour an aggravating factor in sentencing. Farnworth said the federal government should also hire a team of 50 tax auditors to specialize in tracking money and identifying proceeds of crime such as cars and real estate. On Friday, Rob Nicholson, the federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General, staged a press conference in Vancouver to announce the Conservative government was reviving a proposal to impose mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offences. The law would set a mandatory one-year term for selling marijuana if the drug dealer is linked to organized crime, and two years for selling harder drugs like cocaine, heroin or meth to young people or selling them near a school. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom