Friday, November 19, 2010

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.

4 comments:

  1. Why does HarperCon ignore the HUGE Mafia business running in Canada though?

    http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2853387

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    "Canada is heaven for mafiosi of every sort," he says, rearranging the stack of documents on his desk in his Newmarket office. A bas-relief of a group of Carabinieri (Italian military police) is quite prominently displayed behind him. He doesn’t hide his link with Italy ("It’s just like I never left") and he has very clear ideas about all kinds of Mafia: "The laws we have, far from scaring them away, encourage criminals to come to Canada." The G7 countries warned Ottawa about this. The laws against money laundering are inadequate, there’s no limit to the entrance of cash and, most of all, banks are not required to inform the police about suspicious transactions.
    In 1990, the government was forced to review legislation on this subject, after two U.S. Grand Juries investigated certain transactions involving two branch offices, one of the Bank of Nova Scotia and the other of the Royal Bank of Canada, operating in the Caribbean.

    http://www.corrieretandem.com/viewstory.php?storyid=82

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  2. Good point. Not to mention white collar criminals. One of Harper's MPs is being investigated for real estate fraud.

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  3. If you're concerned about the Conservatives using fear tactics to pass legislation then please be aware of the following: Parliament is currently debating Bill C-23B, an act which will make certain that individuals with certain convictions will never be eligible for record suspension.

    According to the National Parole Board only 4% of the over 300,000 people who have received a pardon has ever reoffended. However, under the proposed record suspensions legislation the vast majority (96%) will be forced to live longer under the burden of a criminal record for which they have paid their fines, served their jail time and completed their probation.

    Having a criminal record can be very damaging to an individual’s opportunity for: employment, getting a job promotion, bond-ability, travel, education, getting a loan or mortgage, immigration, volunteering, adoption and child custody. The proposed legislation will thus make it more difficult for these individuals to remove their criminal records from public databases so they can successfully rehabilitate into society as law-abiding citizens. This legislation may actually INCREASE recidivism for individuals who are prevented from reintegrating back into society.

    To learn more about the possible effects of proposed record suspensions legislation and for general information about bill C-23B please visit:

    http://canadiansforajustsociety.webs.com/11pardonsandbillc23.htm

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