Opinion on the new enforcement: Discuss

[Shaman]

So, we're tripling the police forces, building bunkers for our OPP, selling the prison farms and cranking up the budget of Correction Services of Canada.

How many people are they thinking of putting in jail? When you look at the minimum sentencing law that the CPC are planning on reintroducing sometime this year... I think they're figuring it's going to be a lot.

Hey... they like... being like Americans, right? Maybe the plan is to have one in one hundred Canadians in jail with one in ten having some kind of connection to the justice system, via probation, parole, incarceration, etc.

Then they can take the franchise away from the guy who stole a loaf of bread, privatise the prisons and next thing you know you've got a huge money machine going that takes from the citizenry and gives it to The Right People.

Thoughts?

(Meanwhile, they're mothballing about half of the Canadian Navy)

[shoe]

The Prison Industrial Complex hard at work...

[laps]

People should stop committing crimes and we wont need all this law enforcement infrastructure.

[Shaman]

People should stop committing crimes and we wont need all this law enforcement infrastructure.

Heh. That would work except that the powers that be are diligently making more things indictable, and establishing minimum serving periods for many of the crimes (not yet passed/enabled but on their way). So, making comparatively minor things much more likely to result in jail time.

You see this as a good thing? Do you think it will end crime, or do you think they'll make more things indictable to keep the prisons full?

[Scuba Steve]

People should stop committing crimes and we wont need all this law enforcement infrastructure.

This is a self feeding system not about crime, its about punishiment making more things crimes makes more criminals and keeps the system going. Putting people in jail for petty crimes (drugs etc.) does nothing but put people in jail and cost everyone money. Jail just makes better criminals more proficient at their jobs.

[Shaman]

Yep, jail is like college for cons.

[turbodish]

Hey... they like... being like Americans, right? Maybe the plan is to have one in one hundred Canadians in jail with one in ten having some kind of connection to the justice system, via probation, parole, incarceration, etc.

Already there. About one in ten Canadians has a criminal record. That ratio has been stable and unchanged over the last 20 or 30 years.

[Rob MacLennan]

Yes, the current Federal government seems hell-bent on following every failed legal policy of the United States, however, there is a need for a radical increase in the number of pretrial detention spaces. Get those and you might see a large decrease in the number of 2X and 3X credit for pretrial detention sentences.

[twinn]

Already there. About one in ten Canadians has a criminal record. That ratio has been stable and unchanged over the last 20 or 30 years.

Interesting fact, did not know that and would never have guessed so high, is that Canada wide or do some cities skew it for the rest of the country?

I do agree with Shaman on this though. The crime rate has been in decline over the years yet they are ramping up and going on with this tough on crime nonsense. Its all about optics, they are always reacting (about criminals getting CPP- its been that way forever, why the problem now? close to election time?, same thing with parole issue- always been that way, why is it a huge deal now?)

Funny thing is that the CPC always has this stance but never actually get their own bills thru due to them proroging parliment. I think the libs did more for crime then the CPC.

Mandatory sentances do nothing to reduce crime it has been proven in the states. Start at the social level and give people opportunity and jobs and crime will go down. There will always be a level of crime but pushing harsh sentances for minor drug convictions is just nonsense.

[Griffin]

It plays well to the right wingers and bible thumpers. Sort of like their anti-abortion and anti-gay initiatives.

[jc100]

I'll agree with you on one thing...selling the prison farms was an ****** move.

[johnp]

Increasing incarceration rates is very bad thing - look at the US. Back in the '80's about the same proportion were in jails Canada<>US. Since then, the US has been packing the jails so that they now have highest incarceration rate in the world. Now is it a coincidence that US has private jails i.e. big companies make money by running jails?

Make money like this. Get the franchise to run jails in Canada. Convince the politicians to pass laws that increase frequency and length of sentences. Count your money.

You want to see real havoc? Just wait till all those inmates in the U.S. start leaving the prisons and try to integrate with society. They will have no jobs, no social assistance and be highly trained in criminal arts from years in jail.

So, no I don't support the "get tough on crime" posing.

[jotapeh]

Sounds like it's time for a Michael Moore documentary! In Canada!

[CruisnGrrl]

I think it encourages people to run. it also encourages people not to report anything to the cops.

[panterafreak]

Minimum sentencing is a slippery slope. I can't see how judges would like this, it's as if the conservative government doesn't trust their judgment.
Different situations require different solutions.

We're in for a vastly different Canada if Harpers conservatives get a majority government, sad thing is, Canadians don't seem to pay attention, & won't realize it until the damage is done.

[Mistero2009]

So, we're tripling the police forces, building bunkers for our OPP

I'm a bit behind on the current events. Can somebody fill me in?

[mobilus]

People should stop committing crimes and we wont need all this law enforcement infrastructure.

Write enough laws and everybody will be guilty of something.

A large penal population can be used to keep private labour prices in check. There's a tremendous number of prisoners in the U.S. working for mere dollars per day, their labour used to compete with private companies and corporations. Privatize the prison industry, run hundreds of new laws up the flag pole, incarcerate whoever gets snagged, and you control an essentially free labour force that competes against private and public corporations. Nice gig if you can get it.

Growing stevia is illegal in many U.S. states. Is stevia a dangerous narcotic? No, it contains sugar, the plant is dozens of times more sweet than sugar cane. Stevia is easy to grow in any backyard, and comes without the side effects of aspartame, fructose, processed sugar, etc. Imagine ending up in a prison cell because you had stevia growing in the garden. The issue isn't lawbreakers, it's a systemic design to affect national labour costs.

[FiReSTaRT]

I remember the case of a U.S. judge who kept sending offenders who wouldn't have been given a prison sentence by any other judge to this private correctional facility. Of course, he was receiving commission for every offender that got sent down there.
But it's kinda crazy that 10% of us have criminal records. Are we such a bad nation or do our laws not reflect reality?

[turbodish]

But it's kinda crazy that 10% of us have criminal records. Are we such a bad nation or do our laws not reflect reality?

Our laws reflect reality. That 10% figure demonstrates why we need laws. Look at the numbers yourself.

There were 2,452,787 crimes reported in 2006; 48% were property related crimes and 12.6% were violent crimes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Canada

Last I heard, stealing is bad. So is assaulting and even killing people. But for the laws we do have, a lot more of us would fall victim to the bad people among us, and a lot more of us would become bad people doing bad acts ourselves.

[CruisnGrrl]

how many of the criminal records resulted in jail time and how many were victimless? and by victimless i don't mean credit card fraud, there's a victim there.. things like drug possession for personal use the only victim is the user and thus victimless.