Pubdate: Wed, 22 Feb 2012
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa Bureau 
Cited: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: http://www.leap.cc/

DON'T ADOPT U.S.-STYLE DRUG LAWS, GROUPS WARN CONSERVATIVE
GOVERNMENT

OTTAWA-As the Conservatives' massive crime bill nears its final stages
of parliamentary approval, a Canadian group of judges, lawyers, and
policy advisers has emerged to urge a "smarter" approach to tackling
crime.

Calling itself the "Smarter Justice Network," the group publicly
stepped forward on a day that a similar but unrelated American group
released an open letter urging the Canadian government to avoid
mandatory jail terms for drug crimes that have been a "costly failure"
in the United States.

The two have much in common. They count in their ranks retired judges,
lawyers, criminal law policy advisers, victims and offender advocates.

They oppose mandatory sentencing regimes that remove judicial
discretion, which are sprinkled throughout Bill C-10 - the so-called
"Safe Streets and Communities Act" - that is in the final days of
Senate hearings here.

Citing overcrowded jails and "countless ruined lives," the American
group - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) - is made up mostly
of retired American police officers, judges, and criminal law policy
advisers opposed to a zero-tolerance approach to drugs. They released
on Wednesday their open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and
senators.

"We are individuals who were deeply involved with the war on drugs and
have now accepted, due to our own experience and the clear evidence
before us, that these policies are a costly failure. We changed our
minds and we encourage you to do the same," they write.

The Canadian group is a non-partisan network of influential
individuals who have been deeply involved in all aspects of the
Canadian justice system: judicial, prosecutorial, policy-making and
advocacy for victims and offenders.

Beyond drugs, they are more broadly worried about the cumulative
impact of C-10, its mandatory sentencing rules, and what they see as
the Conservative government's regressive, "reactive," "costly and
ineffective" approach to crime, corrections and parole.

The Smarter Justice Network includes David Daubney and Catherine
Latimer, both senior federal Justice Department policy advisers.
Latimer is now with the John Howard Society. Daubney, a former PC MP
once chaired the Commons standing justice committee and led a
year-long study on parole and corrections that produced the Daubney
Report.

It also counts on its chairing committee: John Edwards, former
commissioner of the Correctional Services of Canada; Willie Gibbs,
former chairman of the National Parole Board; Ed McIsaac, former
executive director of the federal Correctional Investigators office;
retired Judge James Chadwick, once senior judge for Eastern Ontario;
Steve Sullivan, the first Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime;
Lorraine Berzins, who until recently led the Church Council on Justice
and Corrections; UBC professor and prison reform advocate Michael
Jackson; former N.S. Liberal Party leader Danny Graham, a defence
lawyer seconded to the Justice Department for a couple of years; the
Elizabeth Fry Society's executive director Kim Pate; and Judge Barry
Stuart, the former chief judge of the Yukon territorial court who
initiated sentencing circles in the North and is now working with the
missing aboriginal women's inquiry in B.C.

Both groups might be too late.

The Senate is hearing from witnesses before a final vote to approve
Bill C-10. The bill would amend nine laws and, among other things,
create new mandatory minimum prison sentences for a range of crimes,
such as six months for possession of as few as six marijuana plants.
It passed the Commons and is certain to pass the Senate's review, as
the Conservatives hold a majority.

Indeed, when Barry Stuart testified Wednesday against the punitive
thrust of Bill C-10, Conservative senators Bob Runciman and Daniel
Lang pointed the finger at judges.

They said inconsistent and lax rulings against violent and repeat
offenders eroded public confidence in the justice system and are the
reason the government must act.

In an interview, Daubney said the Conservatives are bringing in "very
retributive legislation that will not make Canada any safer, and quite
the contrary will make us more unsafe."

It will lead to higher rates of incarceration for aboriginal
offenders, who now make up 22 per cent of the federal prison
population, though they make up just 4 per cent of the general
Canadian population, he said. The elimination of judicial discretion
will also worsen matters for mentally ill offenders, added Daubney.

The American group's letter flags the costly "failure of U.S. crime
policies that those proposed in the Canadian federal government's Bill
C-10 legislation seem to be modelled on."

"These policies have bankrupted state budgets as limited tax dollars
pay to imprison non-violent drug offenders at record rates instead of
programs that can actually improve community safety."
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.