Don't waste billions on 'tough-on-crime'

On the heels of their majority victory, the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged to pass an omnibus crime bill. Said bill is just the beginning of an ambitious war on crime that will radically change significant aspects of the country's Criminal Code and justice system. While some aspects of the bill may have merit, on balance, it's the wrong approach, at the wrong time, pursued for the wrong reasons.

Dubbed the "Safe Streets and Communities Act," Bill C-10 will no doubt appeal to those who view the justice system as "soft on crime," even though the facts suggest most of the changes are unnecessary or unwarranted. The bill bundles a number of crime-related initiatives including the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences for weapon and drug-related convictions, and expanding the list of offences where conditional sentences (such as house arrest) would not apply.

Meanwhile, crime rates in Canada are at the lowest since 1973, and longer prison sentences, increasing the number and capacity of prisons, and mandatory minimum sentences have shown to be ineffective in numerous jurisdictions around the world. However, according to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's spokesperson, the "Tories don't use these statistics as an excuse not to get tough on criminals."

The compelling questions then should be: Why, in the face of years of solid statistical evidence, do the Conservatives insist on legislating such expensive changes? And, why is the government willing to spend billions to "fix" crime rates that are already moving in the right direction? No one is arguing that criminals should not be held accountable. However, taxpayers will be required to contribute to these substantial and costly changes. Provinces (not the federal government) will be responsible for the administration of this bill in a system already plagued with long court delays and cost over-runs.

Canada's Criminal Code is already thick with laws that have lengthy sentences, yet people commit crimes every day. What our laws do not address are the root causes of crime, and the under-reporting of these crimes. For example, there is nothing in Bill C-10 that will assist an abused spouse to leave their relationship, nothing to support the child who is abused by their parent, nothing to address alleged systemic racism in the criminal justice system, nothing to address why people choose to not report their victimization, nothing to deter white collar crime.

When we hear the government is "getting tough on crime", we want to believe the result will help improve the overall safety and wellbeing of Canadians. However, if we were to review the research (much of which was funded by the Government of Canada), we would understand that a more sound approach would be to take the billions of dollars earmarked for this bill and spend it on prevention and support programs. Every dollar wasted on ineffective law-and-order measures is money that could have been spent addressing the social and economic forces that drive the desperate into lives of crime.

The Conservative government is operating under the erroneous assumption that putting more people in jail for longer will help them learn a lesson. This may be true. However, the lesson they learn will be much different than the lesson the government intends. The informal training in prisons includes how to be an addict and manufacture drugs, how to be violent and how to avoid getting caught after their eventual release.

The government's resources are not infinite. Once a tax dollar is spent, it's gone. Why spend it on prisons when we can spend it on people?

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Source: National Post