Pubdate: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2012 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 Author: Doug Cuthand CRIME LEGISLATION A REGRESSIVE STEP FOR CANADA Canada took a major step backward this week by erasing more than 50 years of prison reform and progressive policies to deal with crime. What we have today is a criminal justice system that is overly simplistic and revenge oriented. The omnibus act, known as Bill C-10, is 150 pages in length and consists of several pieces of legislation. It was rushed through Parliament to meet the Conservatives' campaign promise to pass it within a 100-day time frame. There was no public pressure on the government for speedy passage. This purely was an agenda set by the government itself. Now we're faced with an American-style justice system with mandatory minimum sentences and a tough-on-crime war on drugs that, by all indications, have been a miserable failure. Jails in the U.S. are crammed with small time offenders, and cost cash-strapped governments more than they can afford. Drugs remain a problem, and the war on drugs has done little to reduce the epidemic. For some unknown reason, the federal Conservatives are repeating these mistakes. Einstein stated that the definition of insanity was to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results. The Conservatives haven't learned anything from the judicial mess to the south. This Tory travesty will change the face of Canada's courts and corrections. Judges will be forced to apply mandatory minimum sentences regardless of the circumstances. Mandatory minimums are a blunt instrument that lump all the offenders in one pile and treat their offence as the same. Somehow, the Conservative caucus knows more about sentencing and crime than learned judges who have sat on the bench for years. In Ontario, Judge Anne Molloy recently refused to impose a mandatory sentence of three years on an offender who illegally had possession of a loaded handgun. While the man showed "colossally bad judgment," she said, a three-year minimum sentence was out of proportion to his crime. We can expect that more cases in the future will see judges reduce mandatory sentences, or cases challenged under the charter of rights. Changes that will occur in corrections will include tougher sentences for repeat young offenders, including jail time in adult institutions. Most people would agree that violent criminals should receive sentences that remove them from society so they can get help, particularly young offenders who have their whole life ahead of them. However this legislation expands the definition of what is considered a violent offence, for example to include "creating a substantial likelihood of causing bodily harm." In other words, an offender who looks at a police officer the wrong way they could be charged with committing a violent offence. This is far too subjective and open to abuse. That is the big fear about this legislation. It will have the worst impact on those who can least afford it. Following the example in the U.S., it could be the poor, mentally ill and minorities who suffer the most under such tough-on-crime legislation. Assembly of First Nations national chief Shawn Atleo sees a future where First Nations youth have a greater chance of going to jail than going to school. Speaking to the Senate's legal and constitutional affairs committee Atleo said that Bill C-10 will make it even harder to break the cycle of crime that traps many aboriginal youth. The legislation is titled the Safe Streets and Communities Act, but will have the opposite effect. Stiffer sentences will lead to more hardened criminals. It's no secret that jails are crime colleges and gang incubators. Men and women both learn more about crime while they are in jail. They are forced to join gangs for self protection, and return to society cynical and more likely to reoffend. Our communities will become dangerous instead of safer. The spin from Conservatives is that longer sentences will increase opportunities for rehabilitation. This claim is completely specious and totally naive. How can we sensibly expect that this penny pinching government to still have money for rehabilitation after spending hundreds of millions on jail construction and staff increases? It doesn't take a genius to realize that rehab programs will come last. The way things stand now, we will continue to see the institutionalization of First Nations and aboriginal people. Historically when the government doesn't know what to do, or it fears a group it has institutionalized them and taken away their ability to care for themselves. That's been the history of aboriginal people in Canada. I can foresee a group of ex-offenders in the future launching a class-action suit against the federal government, similar to the residential school lawsuits and the pending action from the children of the "big scoop," who were placed in foster homes outside their culture and far from home. The new crime bill will do irreparable damage to our people, cost taxpayers billions, create a jail industry and then fail miserably. Instead, governments need to get at the root of the problem. They need to address child poverty, and create better services for the mentally ill. Young offenders need to be diverted away from adult jails to stop the cycle of crime. All governments in Canada need to build a better country for all citizens. This crime bill will not create a better country. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom