Pubdate: Thu, 23 Feb 2012
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2012 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Cited: http://www.cjpf.org/
Cited: http://www.leap.cc/
Author: Keven Drews

U.S. WARNING REJECTED

Nicholson firmly behind crime bill

VANCOUVER -- Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is standing by
mandatory minimum sentencing legislation despite a new warning such
laws don't work.

Nicholson said the law, which includes mandatory minimum sentences for
drug offences, is "very targeted."

"We develop our criminal law legislation looking at the experiences
from around the world, from Britain and other countries," Nicholson
said at a news conference Wednesday in Regina. "But again, ours is a
Canadian solution to Canadian issues, and we make no apology for that."

The comments came after an attorney who helped U.S. politicians write
mandatory minimum-sentencing laws during the 1980s issued a warning
for Canadian parliamentarians.

Eric E. Sterling, who once served as counsel to the U.S. House of
Representatives judiciary committee, said imposing long jail terms for
minor drug offences has been a mistake in the U.S. and won't work in
Canada.

"When you start going down this road of building more prisons and
sending people away for long periods of time, and you convince
yourself that this is going to deter people, you've made a colossal
mistake," said Sterling, now president of the Maryland-based Criminal
Justice Policy Foundation.

"We have learned the hard way that long sentences are not deterring
people from selling drugs when the profits are so great."

Sterling is one of 28 current and former U.S. law enforcement
officials who have signed a letter to Canadian senators, Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and provincial premiers.

They take issue with Bill C-10, known as the Safe Streets and
Communities Act, which includes mandatory minimum sentences for drug
offences and is now being studied in the Senate.

The letter, written by the organization called Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition, is the latest salvo in the dispute over Bill C-10 as well
as the debate over legalization of marijuana, which it urges Canada to
tax and regulate.

Despite the ongoing and continued pressure, the Conservative
government said it has no intention of decriminalizing or legalizing
marijuana.

In their letter, the law enforcement officials argue mandatory minimum
sentences have been "costly failures" in the U.S. and have led to
greater organized crime and gang violence, corruption and social decay.

Nicholson said Wednesday he hasn't read the letter, but insisted the
government will move forward.

"Over the years, there has been introduced mandatory penalties by
different governments. I think there's about 40 of them in the
Criminal Code, so they're nothing new to this government," he said.
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