B.C. HAS ONLY ITSELF TO BLAME FOR HAVING SUCH A HIGH CRIME RATE

The good news is that Canada's crime rate declined last year. But it
would be quite premature to start blowing up balloons and chilling the bubbly.

True, there was a reported three-per-cent drop in overall crime. This
was mainly a function of reductions in offences involving theft under
$5,000 and other forms of less serious property crime.

With an aging population and a strong national economy, such
decreases are to be expected.

The bad news, and there's plenty of it, is that violent crime
increased substantially. Assaults with a weapon and assaults causing
bodily harm together were up four per cent last year, and a
staggering 35 per cent since 1996.

Aggravated assault was up five per cent. Robbery increased six per
cent. Cocaine offences jumped 13 per cent, and have increased 75 per
cent in the last decade.

This hardly calls for a celebration.

The one number reported with particular fanfare was that murders had
decreased by 10 per cent. But homicides had increased so dramatically
in the previous 24 months the numbers pretty well had to go down.
Meanwhile, attempted murders increased once again. Sounds like some
paramedics and 911 dispatch operators deserve a raise.

It would appear that commentators, academics and politicians were so
busy taking comfort in the three-per-cent overall drop they forgot to
look at the details. For instance, the rate of young people accused
of homicide was the highest it's been since 1961, the year in which
such statistics were first collected.

This is progress?

As troubling as the numbers are, the regional variations are even
more disturbing. B.C. continues to experience one of the country's
highest crime rates, almost double that of Ontario and Quebec.

And there's a good reason for this disparity. If someone was going to
spend their life immersed in criminality and drugs, this is the place to be.

Unlike their counterparts in Ontario and Quebec, judges here continue
to hand down some of the most lenient sentences in the country.

It appears that an offender's number of prior convictions does not
factor into the sentencing process in this province. Also, in a
uniquely West Coast approach to justice, an offender's drug addiction
is considered a mitigating, rather than an aggravating, factor,
during sentencing.

Time and time again the public is told by criminologists and
politicians that violent crime is just a figment of their imagination
and the only reason people think they're at risk is due to a
sensationalist media.

This is rubbish.

Violent crime is clearly on the rise, and the number of offenders
committing new offences while awaiting trial is totally unacceptable.

"Catch and Release" is a conservation program within the Department
of Fisheries and Oceans.

It was never intended to be the mission statement for our criminal
justice system.