Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jun 2012
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481

SHIFT THE FOCUS IN CRIME FIGHT

The need to get tough on crime was a recurring theme during last 
year's federal election. Stephen Harper's Conservatives pounded the 
issue at every opportunity and certainly found an audience. The 
Tories won a majority, in part, because this agenda resonated in 
urban centres. Harper was elected by innercity dwellers fed up with 
having their homes broken into and their cars stolen.

But then a strange thing happened. When the Conservatives brought 
down their omnibus crime bill last September, the focus suddenly changed.

The legislation seemed to be directed more at values-messaging than 
reducing crime rates. Mandatory minimum sentences were introduced for 
the possession and distribution of child pornography, and likewise 
for a number of drug-trafficking offences.

Polls suggest most Canadians support these measures, and in a sense, 
that's not surprising. Everyone knows that drug dealers and child 
pornographers are the lowest of the low. They make a satisfying and 
easy target.

But politically effective though this approach may be, what does it 
do for the average victim of crime? Child pornography, for all its 
disturbing aspects, is relatively rare, thank heavens. Drug 
trafficking is more common.

But by an overwhelming margin, the offense most Canadians fall victim 
to is property crime. Last year 220,000 British Columbians reported a 
robbery, break-in or vehicle theft.

And that figure understates the actual volume considerably. According 
to Statistics Canada, we report just 31 per cent of the crimes we 
experience. That would put the real number of property offences in 
B.C. at around 660,000 each year - enough to victimize one in three 
households. This is the real burden of crime that Canadians are angry 
about, but it's nowhere on Ottawa's radar screen. Perhaps our 
politicians have given up.

The police largely have. Fewer than 10 per cent of property crimes 
reported in B.C. are solved. Taking nonreported incidents into 
account, the real success rate is probably about three per cent.

But realistically, can anything be done? At first glance, it would 
seem the problem is too widespread.

Yet first impressions can be misleading. A significant percentage of 
property crimes are committed by a small group of career criminals, 
individuals like Tracy Lloyd Caza, the Vancouver crook who made 
headlines when he stole an old woman's wedding ring while she lay in 
a hospital bed.

To that point, Caza had been convicted 78 times in roughly 30 years 
of adult life. When he got out of prison after the ring theft, 
Vancouver police warned he would re-offend.

And of course he did. His most recent arrest - on a charge of assault 
and possession of cocaine - came only three weeks after his last 
release from jail. He was given just four months for that offence - his 79th.

It's true that some of Caza's crimes are of the petty variety. 
Assessed individually, they merit the endless stream of minor 
sentences he has served.

But at some point, a different priority emerges. Professional 
criminals aren't deterred by a few months in jail. And they certainly 
aren't rehabilitated.

The harm they do is measured not in the severity of their offences, 
but in the frequency. Our judicial system has failed to recognize 
this fact. Crime as a way of life should be treated more severely 
than current practice permits.

We are not in favour of lock-step sentencing rules, such as the 
policy of three strikes and you're out adopted by some American 
states. Judges should have discretion to make punishments fit the crime.

However, if a get-tough strategy makes sense for dealing with any 
group of offenders, it makes sense here. We've allowed a handful of 
career predators to take advantage of our compassion and forbearance. 
This is where the crackdown should be focused.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom