What do the experts say about mandatory minimum sentencing and conditional
sentences?
Justice Minister Vic Toews, when announcing the anti-crime bills, pointed to
U.S. states where he alleges minimum mandatory sentences have produced a
significant drop in crime. By 1994, all 50 states had enacted one or more
mandatory sentencing laws.
But, the report in question actually cited studies of similar laws in
Michigan and Florida which found no evidence that crimes committed with
firearms had been prevented. And, the evaluation of mandatory gun-use
sentencing in Detroit, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh indicated that the laws deterred homicide, but not other violent
crimes.
Professor Kelly Hannah-Moffat, who specializes in criminology at the
University of Toronto, says the research doesn't support Toews' claim.
"Get tough policies don't deter people from committing crimes. It's a
simplistic understanding of what is a complex problem."
She says people commit crimes for reasons that go beyond punishments, citing
economic and social issues like poverty as a contributing factor.
What it will do, she says, is increase the number of inmates in Canada's
prison system.
"Prison isn't particularly effective as a deterrent. And it's not
necessarily appropriate for all offenders."
Hannah-Moffat said prison should be used as a last resort. She says they're
"not magic elixirs that fix all problems. By sending them to prison, you
don't heighten public safety or deal with the underlying issues."
And, she adds, prison time is a "short-sighted" measure. Hannah-Moffat says
incarceration cuts the individual off from the support of their friends and
family, and stigmatizes them. She says it leaves them ill-equipped for when
they are released.
"At some point in time, the individual will return to the community," she
says. "Rather than saying they should just go to prison, we've got to think
more deeply about what we're trying to accomplish with this."
Alternate punishments, like probation or conditional sentences, are viable
options, she says.
"We seem to think that the only legitimate punishment for crime is prison.
But, punishment can be accomplished in the community, and without the use of
prison."
This isn't to say that penalties aren't warranted, she says, but "judges
need to be given some discretion to see whom prison is appropriate for."
Violent crime had been on the decrease prior to the introduction of this
legislation.
Read: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/crime/federal-anticrime-bills.html
