Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2015
Source: Muse, The (CN NF Edu)
Copyright: 2015 The Muse
Contact:  http://www.themuse.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2656
Author: Kerri Neil

"TOUGH ON CRIME" FAILS CANADA

Harper's Approach To Crime Is Tough On Human Lives

Despite falling crime rates across the country, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper has been pushing a "tough on crime" agenda since the last
election. This was most poignantly emphasized in his government's
omnibus crime bill, the Safe Streets and Communities Act. This
sweet-sounding bill packed a lot of punches: minimum and extended
sentences for drug convictions, the potential to charge youth with
adult sentences, a shift toward prison sentences over house arrest,
and the denial of work visas to people considered vulnerable to crime.

Harsher, longer sentences are the exact opposite of the trend toward
rehabilitation occurring in many progressive countries. Norway, for
instance, has rejected the punitive approach to prisons, instead
choosing relatively short sentences and institutions that reflect a
person's normal life without bars on windows. Germany uses a similar
model, and emphasizes fines over incarceration, as well as
re-socialization after prison sentences.

These models take into account the desperate situations that drive
people to commit crimes. In Canada, 80 to 90 per cent of prisoners in
some institutions are addicts, and up to 40 per cent have mental
illness. Many prisoners are homeless or victims of abuse, and a
disproportionate number are Aboriginal. Efforts to expand and extend
prison sentences take precious funds from programs creating healthier
communities and instead spend them on hiring more court prosecutors or
prison guards.

Instead of addressing problems in our society, our harsh penal code
focuses on punishment and then release offenders blindly, sometimes
without even halfway houses to help people readjust to normal society.

Mandatory minimum sentences for harmless substances like marijuana
make this situation even worse. They overwhelm courts with trivial
cases and flood prisons with small-time offenders who then become
disillusioned with a system that oppresses them for crimes generally
seen as innocuous. Convicts then have a harder time getting legitimate
jobs after their sentences, pushing them further away from law-abiding
society and reducing their likelihood of turning to government for
help.

We must also consider the costs of prison sentences. On average, it
costs $322 a day to feed, house, and guard a prisoner, and more for
higher-security prisons. Instead of trying to rehabilitate offenders
into our economy as working citizens with skills that could enrich us
all, the "tough on crime" approach sucks out tax money with its long
sentences. This oppressive agenda discourages convicts from seeking
legitimate jobs, preventing them from potentially ever being able to
contribute to the country's wealth.

We can see the problems of over-sentencing here in St. John's. Last
spring, a young man was charged with chasing his father and stepmother
down the road with a chainsaw. Diagnosed as bipolar and
schizoaffective, he was sentenced to just 3 months in prison.

Once released, he was effectively homeless. His lawyer tried to find
him housing with Choices for Youth and the Tommy Sexton Centre, but
both were at capacity.

This case epitomizes the problems of a system that punishes instead of
rehabilitates. This man clearly required professional help, and yet
was released to the streets as a convict, scarcely able to lead a
normal life.

These problems don't have a simple solution; they require us to
completely change our perception of the justice system. As the victim
of a crime, it is easy to demand punitive action against the
perpetrator. However, we must place that perpetrator in the context of
bigger social problems.

Shifting our focus to root problems and reworking our entire system to
promote rehabilitation and re-socialization would build a fairer, more
effective criminal justice system. After all, a prison sentence could
be an opportunity for government to help, not harm, members of our
society.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D