Pubdate: Sat, 30 Apr 2011 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Page: A13 Copyright: 2011 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun CANADIANS BUY INTO HARPER'S CRIME CRACKDOWN Despite statistics showing falling crime rates, two-thirds of the public like the get-tough stance Everybody wants to be a tough guy, but no one wants to pay the price - - except for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He has embraced his inner Clint Eastwood, vowing if reelected in his first 100 days to force judges to impose stiffer sentences, to do more to protect victims of crime and to tighten up parole rules. Instead of some milquetoast legal system, every shoplifter and pot-growing minion of organized crime would face a new reality: "You feeling lucky, punk?" If you can't do the time, and Harper has his way, you better not do the crime. And, much as critics may parody the Conservative public safety platform as cobbled together from bad U.S. film scripts, the country seems to like what it's hearing. A fairly recent opinion poll suggested two-thirds of Canadians agreed with Harper. The Angus Reid data indicated ordinary folk thought the justice system was too soft and that we needed to stop mollycoddling criminals. "Canadians have been saying yes to our approach on cracking down on crime," Harper told a cheering throng in Surrey. No matter the evidence of a decade of declining crime rates, the nation feels less safe and the Tories say that requires broad changes and a legal cultural shakeup. Compared with the other parties, the Conservative public-safety platform is more extensive, more detailed and more radical in the changes a re-elected Harper government would introduce. The Tory package, however, is shrouded in foggy cost estimates, and distrust about the government's projections on correctional expenses contributed to the rancour that brought it down. Nevertheless, the prime minister says Canadians are ready to pay the price, whatever it might be. Initially, that price tag was $2.7 billion over the five years. The stiffer parole standards were expected to cost about $386 million, the elimination of early parole an extra $200 million and the building of new jails for the increased prison population about $2 billion based on a Correctional Services estimate that an increase of 3,400 inmates would require 2,700 new bunks. Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page disagreed. He said the Conservative figure was a lowball and he figured a more realistic estimate was $5 billion. His office put the increase at 4,200 prisoners at a cost of $1.8-billion for facility construction and an additional $3-billion a year for operations and maintenance. It costs $343,810 a year to keep a woman in jail and between $140,527 and $223,687 for a man, depending on the security level of the prison, according to Page's office. Each parolee costs $39,084 a year. Page suggested that under Harper's proposed changes, annual prison expenditures would increase to $9.3 billion from today's $4.3 billion by 2015-16. The Conservatives acknowledge their estimates undoubtedly will rise, but defend their attempt to change the culture of the legal and corrections system from one of rehabilitation to punishment by brandishing victimization studies. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP leader Jack Layton have had a hard time countering the Tory momentum on the issue; laying even a kid-glove on Harper is difficult without looking "soft on crime." For instance, when Ignatieff had the temerity to suggest "there will be changes in Canada's criminal justice policy when we are elected," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews scoffed as if the Grit chief were inviting Tony Soprano to sit in cabinet. "Canadians want a government that understands the importance of safe streets and communities and that takes the necessary initiatives to crack down on dangerous, repeat and violent offenders," he said. Ignatieff was saying only that a Liberal government would review the amendments to the Criminal Code expected to drive up costs exponentially by putting more and more people behind bars. But he was hamstrung arguing the point since the Liberals voted for one of the most problematic of the Conservative changes from the last Parliament: Bill C-25, a.k.a. the Truth in Sentencing Act, passed in 2010 to halt judges from giving automatic two-for-one credit to convicts for time spent in pretrial custody. Similarly, when Ignatieff complains the government is building "U.S.-style megaprisons" and hints he'd cancel them, he's leaving himself lots of wriggle room. For good reason. Under construction, for instance - at a cost of $1.1 billion to Ontario taxpayers over 30 years - is the 1,650 bed Toronto South Detention Centre, a 67,000 square metre "superjail" to replace the city's decrepit 550-bed Don Jail. As well, 634 new beds have been announced for prisons in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec, at a cost of $158 million. That's a lot of construction jobs and more full-time correctional jobs. The Liberals will only say "any projected prison expenditure will be decided based on a review that will be conducted of the entire justice agenda." NDP leader Layton, on the other hand, has consistently maintained his party doesn't agree with the idea we need to build more jails or throw more people in prison to make our communities safer. As befits his left-of-centre perspective, Layton would pursue an entirely different strategy: Instead of hiring more construction workers and prison guards, he'd hire more cops, social workers and teachers. "I don't see why we need more prisons when the crooks seem so happy in the Senate," he quipped during the leaders' debate. More seriously, his approach to battling crime will be to pump $250 million or more into prevention - 2,500 additional police jobs along with expanded social service and educational programs such as those aimed at reducing gang violence. "Prevention is the key tool to stamp out street crime at its source," Layton says. When you look at the cost of imprisonment, he argues it is cheaper and better for everyone in the long run to spend more trying to reach disaffected youth. The NDP would make gang recruitment illegal, Layton adds, and he would make carjacking and home invasions separate offences under the Criminal Code. (That last bit is mostly rhetoric - judges can deal with such situations already if there are aggravating circumstances, we don't need special laws.) Ultimately, the key difference between all three parties is the cost of their law-and-order platforms in tough economic times when governments face difficult choices between health care, education and prisons. So it's worth considering the experience of America, whose penal policies Harper is accused of emulating. The U.S. spends $68 billion on corrections - 300 per cent more than 25 years ago - and its prison population is growing 13 times faster than the general population. Arizona's population has roughly doubled in the past 30 years; its prison population reportedly has gone up tenfold. Even states like Texas are moving to community-based programs, such as more probation and parole services, because the cost of locking people up is too high and recidivism rates raise questions about its utility. Harper is far from advocating Canada go all the way down that road, but he does want to make our criminal system harder-nosed and more attuned to victims and those who feel bullied. That will always be difficult. Unlike the U.S., with its defining myth of the lone sheriff riding in to rescue terrified town folk, Canada's history, Constitution and law-order and-good-government culture militate against such an individualist allegory. Regardless, aside from the legislative agenda, the new prime minister may have a chance to leave a more lasting legacy by appointing likeminded jurists to the Supreme Court of Canada. Justices Ian Binnie, Morris Fish and Louis LeBel - a third of the high bench - reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 within the next four years. In the minority Parliament, Harper stayed in the middle of the road with his choices to the court, Justices Marshall Rothstein and Thomas Cromwell. A majority would strengthen his hand. He has committed to have future appointments vetted by Parliament, which requires them to withstand some scrutiny, but that's all. Harper has said: "We've got to make sure that we have courts that apply the law, not courts that apply their own criteria." There would be no greater way of influencing a generation of legal debate and thinking on every issue, including abortion, right-to-die, mandatory sentence review, property rights, federal-provincial jurisdiction and national security versus dissent. Law-and-order perspectives separate the parties in this campaign like few others. The chasm between the Conservatives and the others on the core principles of the criminal system may herald a sea change, especially if the Tories win a majority and play to the country's anxieties. [sidebar] A QUICK LOOK AT THE CRIME PLATFORMS OF THE NATIONAL PARTIES CONSERVATIVES Prime Minister Stephen Harper vows to bundle all his controversial criminal justice legislation into a single omnibus bill and pass it within "100 sitting days" of taking office. Specifically, he would: . End house arrest for serious and violent criminals. . Eliminate pardons for serious criminals. . Establish tougher sentences and mandatory jail time for child sex abuse. . Get tough with violent and repeat young offenders. . Give law enforcement and national security agencies up to-date tools to fight crime in today's high-tech telecommunications environment. . Put public safety first when considering requests to transfer prisoners back to Canada. . Allow victims of terrorism to sue perpetrators and supporters in Canada. . Streamline long and complex trials to ensure justice is delivered swiftly. NEW DEMOCRATS NDP leader Jack Layton has spent the campaign dodging Tory broadsides that his party is soft on crime and trying not to sound like he is defending the status quo. He is promising: . A series of measures that would see $150 million go to pay for 2,500 more police officers and double the budgets of anti-gang squads. . To outlaw gang recruitment. . To legislate tougher punishments for those convicted of home invasions, car hijacking, gang membership and elder abuse. . To emphasize crime prevention - investing $100 million a year in social and community programs. LIBERALS Although crime rates are declining nationally, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says some families don't always feel safe in their own neighbourhoods. He would: . Improve the gun registry. . Move to establish a civilian oversight board for the RCMP. . Restore transparency and address management and leadership issues in the national police force. . Create a community heroes fund to give $300,000 to the families of fallen police officers or firefighters. . Offer a volunteer firefighter tax credit. . Establish a national task force to examine the possible systemic causes of disproportionate violence against aboriginal women. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake