Conservative's New Crime Bills Both Expensive and Ineffective

The crime bills that Stephen Harper has been rushing through to appease his base, have been analyzed and determined to be not only expensive but ineffective at reducing crime.

In fact our laws already in place have been working well as Canada is now enjoying the lowest crime rate in our history.

But instead, to prove they know better, the Harper government is running TV ads asking victims of crime to come forward, so Stockwell Day can have his U.S. style super prisons for "unreported crime".

But simply coming forward will not be enough to convict anyone. There still needs to be a trial and evidence.

The worst crime in Canada today is the money this government is spending to convince us that we are a lawless country.

Stephen Harper’s legislative agenda on crime reinforces the notion that he has created a fact-free zone in Ottawa. According to a thorough analysis of the government’s initiatives, more than 30 per cent of Harper’s current parliamentary docket is devoted to a bundle of fear-factor “tough on crime” bills. All of this at a time when crime stats are going south. And the human and fiscal costs of all of this are staggering.

And as Norma Greenaway says: Harper crime agenda is 'tough on taxpayers'

The Harper government's emphasis on cracking down on crime will inevitably be "tough on taxpayers" and may also be "lazy on crime," says a new report. The report provides a scathing analysis of the Conservatives' "tough on crime" agenda that, it says, is motivated by politics as opposed to a desire to pursue sound policy based on the facts. The study was released Wednesday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a left-of-centre think-tank.

Author Paula Mallea, a criminal lawyer and research associate at the centre, says the government has used charged rhetoric and misinformation to advance a crime-and-punishment agenda that, she argues, may lead to more crime and cost taxpayers billions of dollars to house more prisoners. "Tough on crime is actually lazy on crime. It certainly is tough on taxpayers," Mallea wrote.

The crime bills are lazy and could have been drafted by a high school kid who watches too many crime shows.

Mr. Justice Keast of the Ontario Superior Court in Sudbury, criticized the proposed minimum sentence legislation and stated that, in his view, such legislation would "brutalize" society and that the government should instead be providing funding to "eliminate the roots of crime", such as poverty.

He's absolutely right. But Stephen Harper wants to remove the power of the judiciary, so that there is only one sheriff in Harperland.