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Stephen Harper's 'Tough on Crime'

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Stephen Harper's 'Tough on Crime' > November 2010 The Fear Factor Stephen Harper’s “Tough on Crime” Agenda Paula Mallea Please make a donation... Help us continue to offer Acknowledgements our publications free online. This research profited greatly from the comments We make most of our publications available free and advice of Armine Yalnizyan and an anonymous on our website. Making a donation or taking out reviewer. Many thanks to both. a membership will help us continue to provide The CCPA is grateful to the Norus Family for people with access to our ideas and research free providing financial assistance for this project. of charge. You can make a donation or become a member on-line at www.policyalternatives.ca. Or About the Author you can contact the National office at 613-563-1341 for more information. Suggested donation for this Paula Mallea, B.A., M.A., Ll.B, practised criminal law publication: $10 or what you can afford. for 15 years in Toronto, Kingston, and Manitoba. She acted mainly as defence counsel, with a part-time stint as prosecutor, and spent hundreds of hours isbn 978-1-926888-26-2 in penitentiaries representing inmates. She is a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for This report is available free of charge from the CCPA Policy Alternatives. website at www.policyalternatives.ca. Printed copies may be ordered through the National Office List of Acronyms for a $10 fee. CBA Canadian Bar Association 410-75 Albert Street, Ottawa, on k1p 5e7 CSC Correctional Service Canada tel 613-563-1341 fax 613-233-1458 CSI Criminal Severity Index email [email protected] MMS Mandatory Minimum Sentence www.policyalternatives.ca PBO Parliamentary Budget Office YCJA Youth Criminal Justice Act YOA Young Offenders Act 5 Executive Summary 7 Introduction 9 one Tough On Crime: Shaping Public Opinion Mandatory Minimum Sentences (MMSs) 13 two Tough on Crime: The Legislative Agenda A Closer Look: Specific Legislative Examples 24 three Tough on Crime: The Costs The Financial Costs The Human Costs Conclusion 32 four Tough on Crime: The Motivation The Theatre of Language The Manipulation of Parliament The Bias against Evidence-Based Policy The Americanization of the Criminal Justice System The Politics of “Tough on Crime” 40 Conclusion 42 Appendix A Criminal Justice Bills in the House Of Commons, 40th Parliament, 2nd Session, January 26–December 30, 2009 44 Appendix B Criminal Justice Bills in the House Of Commons, 40th Parliament, 3rd Session, March 3, 2010–Present 46 Apppendix C New Drug Mandatory Minimum Sentences 48 Appendix D Bill C-16’s Proposed List of Criminal Code Offences For Which a Conditional Sentence (Including House Arrest) Will No Longer Be Available 50 Appendix E Commissioner’s Directive (Cd) 550, Inmate Accommodation 51 Notes Executive Summary The Conservative government of Stephen Harper likely to occur when offenders have been locked is pursuing a “tough on crime” agenda despite up for long periods with few programs of reha- the fact that crime rates are trending downward. bilitation. The recent annual report of the Cor- Proposed tough legislation will in fact be more rectional Investigator confirms that these trends likely to increase the risk to public safety than have already emerged in the prison system since to reduce it. the Harper government took power. According to Statistics Canada, crime rates Statistics, expert testimony, and the experi- have been trending down for over 20 years. This ence of decades have not deterred the govern- includes the violent crime rate. Yet the Harper ment from its chosen path. It plans to create government continues to insist that there is an more criminal offences, many more mandatory epidemic of crime, and that Canadians should be minimum sentences, the abolition of statutory very afraid of increasing violence — guns, gangs release with supervision, and the closing of many and drugs — the fear factor. This mantra is picked proven programs such as the highly effective up by the media, and the public is duly terrified prison farms which have just been dismantled. of crime and willing to support the government Nor is the Harper government apparently de- in its tough measures. About 30% of all current terred by the extraordinary financial costs of its legislation before the House of Commons relates proposed legislation. No proper estimates have to crime. This is a very high proportion for any been provided to Canadians by the government, single file, especially in view of the urgent and The Parliamentary Budget Officer, however, has complex issues facing Canadians today. costed out a single piece of legislation which he Tough measures do not produce public safe- estimates will cost taxpayers upwards of $5 bil- ty. Longer sentences, harsher prison conditions lion over five years (including the construction and the incarceration of more Canadians will of 13 new federal prisons). This will more than return the system to a time when prisons were double the budget for Corrections in Canada. extremely violent, and when the end result was The additional dozens of proposed laws will more rather than less crime. Recidivism is more The Fear FacTor 5 have similar extraordinary cumulative effects On the other hand, crime legislation is sure upon the budget. to divert the public away from the more pressing Why, then, is the government determined and difficult issues of the day, and it is sure to to stay the course? It appears to be acting solely garner votes as well. By scaring Canadians with upon belief and ideology — the discredited no- skewed and misleading information, the Con- tion that more incarceration in nastier condi- servative government can legislate truly draco- tions will solve the crime problem. Additionally, nian crime laws which are likely to increase both there is an Old-Testament vindictiveness in the the incidence of crime and the deficit. approach which even victims of violent crime do not always support. 6 canadian centre for policy alternatives Introduction The Conservative Government of Stephen Harp- is intent upon leading us to a system of criminal er in 2006 adopted as one of its main objectives justice more like that of the United States. Under a “Tough on Crime” policy. Since that time, the this model, punishment takes precedence over government has proposed a staggering amount of everything else. Canada’s new crime laws reflect crime legislation. Today, fully one-third of House a harshness that is not easy to explain. of Commons Government Bills relate to crime. Facts and evidence seem not to be important This legislation is being proposed at a time to the government when it comes to criminal when virtually all crime statistics are down and justice. Nor, apparently, is cost. The following have been down for over 20 years. This is also examination of the legislation and of past expe- being done at a time when Canada is weather- rience shows that the Conservative approach to ing one of the most difficult economic periods crime will cost billions and will probably produce in its history and is fighting an unpopular war. less rather than more public safety. There will be Our international reputation is being damaged a burgeoning of inmate populations, the build- because of the government’s disinterest in cli- ing of new jails, and an American-style “throw mate change and support of the tar sands. The away the key” attitude. world stands bemused as we stumble over the The government ignores ample evidence that issue of maternal and child health in the devel- most of its proposals do nothing to improve pub- oping world. We fail to gain a seat on the Unit- lic safety. In taking a tough, retributive approach, ed Nations Security Council. Nevertheless, the however, the government has a certainty of gain- government seems largely preoccupied with its ing votes. Neither of the main opposition parties crime agenda. seems willing to put an intelligent alternative A number of reasons could be offered for this forward because they do not want to be seen by emphasis on crime. It is possible that the file is the voting public as “soft on crime.” being invoked to distract the public from more To help craft their new crime agenda, the distressing issues. It is possible that a government Conservative government commissioned and which seems to admire everything Republican then quickly adopted a Report of the Correc- The Fear FacTor 7 tional Service Canada Review Panel in 2007, we might have expected 40 years ago from called Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety.1 a committee of southern U.S. police chiefs. Chaired by Rob Sampson (former Minister of It is counter-intuitive and contra-historical. Corrections under Michael Harris’s Conservative The crime rate has been declining for years, government in Ontario), the hand-picked panel and there is no evidence cited to support recommended tough measures which took vir- any of the repression that is requested. It tually no notice of human rights and provided appears to defy a number of Supreme Court little rationale for its harsh recommendations. decisions, and is an affront, at least to the Michael Jackson and Graham Stewart2 have spirit of the Charter of Rights. written a lengthy and detailed critique of the It is very easy to create new offences and long Roadmap. They say that the report illustrates sentences, to legislate misery in prison and pan- the “dangers of creating major ‘transformative’ der to ill-informed voters. It is not so easy to craft policy virtually overnight by a largely unquali- a system which actually works to reduce crime fied group under a heavy cloud of political ex- while treating offenders humanely. The Canadian pediency.”3 system has made great strides in this direction The Roadmap does not acknowledge any of in the last few decades.
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