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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom