Spending on criminal justice rises as crime rates fall, says budget officer

Since 2002, per capita spending on criminal justice in Canada climbed 23 per cent even as the crime rate fell by the same amount, according to a new report Wednesday by the federal spending watchdog.

The office of the parliamentary budget officer examined federal, provincial and territorial spending in the areas of policing, courts and corrections — the first study of its kind.

It found that $20.3 billion was spent on criminal justice in the last fiscal year — about the same as was spent on national defence. The bulk of the spending — about 73 per cent — was by the provinces and territories.

When expressed in terms of percentage of nominal GDP, criminal justice spending was actually trending downward from 2002 to 2006, but steadily increased since then under the Harper government, the report said.

The report found that provincial security and court spending have risen 41 per cent and 45 per cent respectively, while federal corrections and security spending have climbed 45 per cent and 53 per cent respectively.

The Conservatives have been pushing a tough-on-crime agenda.

But in the recent past, the federal government has also recognized that policing costs need to be reined in. The government hosted an “economics of policing” summit earlier this year on the topic.

Original Article
Source: leaderpost.com
Author: Douglas Quan