tough on crime

Burgeoning prison budgets spared the axe

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Wed, 03/31/2010 - 12:48pm
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By. Bill Curry, Globe and Mail

Ottawa will spend more money on federal prisons in coming years – a rare exception to government-wide restraint and a sharp contrast to efforts by cash-strapped American states to save money through lower inmate populations.

New figures released this week show the budget for Corrections Canada is projected to rise 27 per cent from the 2010-2011 fiscal year to 2012-13, when it will reach $3.1-billion. More than 4,000 new positions will be created at correctional institutions and parole offices across the country, with estimates of a 25-per-cent increase in employees during the same period.

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Prohibition causes violence

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Thu, 03/25/2010 - 3:43pm
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Posted By KATHLEEN HARRIS

Canada's march to declare war on drugs flies in the face of a mounting body of research showing police crackdowns can actually boost drugrelated violence, according to a new study.

A report from the Urban Health Research Initiative of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS reviewed 15 international studies on the impact of drug laws on violence and found 87% show tougher enforcement led to escalated violence.

Co-author Dr. Evan Wood said prohibition drives up the value of drugs "astronomically" and creates lucrative markets exploited by organized crime.

"It has the perverse effect of making it that much more profitable for someone else to get into the market, and violence ensues when people feud over those profits," he told QMI Agency. "We know with absolute certainty that law enforcement does not reduce the flow of drugs."

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Prime Minister's tough-on-crime agenda energizes base, appeals to swing voters

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Thu, 03/25/2010 - 3:34pm
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Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is expected to reintroduce a slate of justice bills, but experts predict the measures will only increase incarceration rates at great expense to taxpayers.

By HARRIS MACLEOD, The Hill Times

As crime rates in Canada fall, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is expected to reintroduce a slate of justice bills to beef up sentences and enforcement, but justice experts predict the measures will only increase incarceration rates at great expense to taxpayers, and political observers say the Tories' stance will energize their base and appeal to law-abiding swing voters.

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McKnight column: The war on drugs has become a war against us

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/24/2010 - 11:44am
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By Peter McKnight, Vancouver Sun

When former U.S. president Richard Nixon first used the term "war on drugs" in 1969, it was a mere metaphor. While the term referred to a number of measures ostensibly designed to combat illicit drug use, it in no way signified a real war.

It does now. From Colombia to British Columbia, with stops in Mexico and the United States, the war on drugs has become indistinguishable from a real war, replete with military campaigns, insurgent groups, countless combat deaths and collateral damage.

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS: New Report Finds Drug Prohibition, Stricter Law Enforcement Key Sources of Violence

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/24/2010 - 11:42am
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Proposed "tough on crime" policies such as mandatory minimum sentences will be costly for taxpayers and may actually increase violence in Canadian communities

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 23, 2010) - Canada's war on drugs has failed to curb the illicit drug trade, and proposed legal interventions to disrupt the drug market will have no effect on drug supply and may actually boost rates of drug-related violence, according to a new scientific review.

Researchers at the Urban Health Research Initiative (UHRI), a program of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE), conducted a systematic review of all available English-language scientific literature to examine the impacts of drug-law enforcement on drug-market violence. 

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Gang violence increases as law-enforcement steps up: study

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 10:00pm
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Tom Blackwell, National Post

In Canadian cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, one of the most pressing priorities for police is combatting an illegal drug trade that has spawned a rash of gangland violence in recent years.

A provocative new report from a B.C. HIV-research agency, however, suggests that throwing more police resources at the problem will only make the bloodshed worse, not bring peace to the streets.

The majority of studies conducted on the issue over the last 20 years in the United States and elsewhere indicate that gang violence increases as law-enforcement activity against the drug trade steps up, says the report from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

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Tough on crime but soft on logic

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 1:46pm
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By Carol Goar

Promises beget price tags.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has revealed very little about the cost of the crime crackdown his government has begun and plans to extend in this session of Parliament.

The Department of Public Safety has estimates of the growth of the prison population but the minister, Peter Van Loan, refuses to make them public, citing cabinet confidentiality. The government has projections of the cost of imposing mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences, meting out longer jail terms and beefing up police forces. But it hasn't made them public.

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Harper’s 'tough-on-crime' bills costly, counterproductive

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 12:22pm
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by Paula Mallea, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

The Harper government is reintroducing its proposed “tough-on-crime” laws that were killed when Harper prorogued Parliament in January. These crime bills, if passed, will result in the lengthy incarceration of hundreds of additional offenders under harsh conditions.

Many Canadians approve. Fine, they say—whatever it takes to get the crime wave under control.

But there is no crime wave. Crime is down in virtually all categories, including violent crime. It has been falling steadily for 30 years. Yet the Harper government, not to be deterred by mere statistics, forges ahead.

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End unbalanced drug penalties and enforcement

Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 8:40am
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By McGill Daily The Editorial Board
The American Senate Judiciary Committee weakened the mandatory minimum sentencing laws for cocaine last week. Mandatory minimum sentence laws are legislative enactments that force judges to give a minimum penalty for certain crimes. Under the new sentencing guidelines, crack cocaine – most often used by black Americans – will be penalized 20 times more harshly than powder cocaine, used most frequently by white Americans. Previously, penalties for crack were 100 times harsher. Read more »

Jaffer avoids criminal charges, leaving questions unanswered

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 1:14pm
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Tu Thanh Ha, Globe and Mail
 
Was there some flaw in the way the police stopped him and administered the breath-analysis test? Was it the way he was arrested and searched?
 
There was an outcry after prosecutors withdrew criminal charges against Rahim Jaffer yesterday, leaving legal observers wondering what went wrong for the authorities after police intercepted the former Tory MP on an Ontario rural road last fall.
Mr. Jaffer pleaded guilty in Ontario Court of Justice to careless driving, a Highway Traffic Act offence. The Crown dropped criminal charges of cocaine possession and having a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit. A speeding charge was also withdrawn.
 
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