COURTS NEED OVERHAUL, MPS TOLD

Experts Discuss Fight Against Crime During Round Table

Canada's courts need an overhaul to start punishing criminals instead
of pushing paper, Conservative MPs heard during a round table on
crime Saturday.

Police officers, lawyers and victims advocates congregated at the Old
City Hall to help advise the Conservative government on their
crime-and-punishment agenda.

"We have a legal system more than a justice system. It's just not
effective," Calgary North East MP Art Hanger said at the close of the
round table on crime.

The laws as they work now are more concerned about ensuring the
proper process was followed than examining if a person committed a
crime, said Ald. Craig Burrows.

Federal Conservatives are now drafting 15 justice bills on everything
from mandatory minimum sentences to a Canadian version of the
controversial "three-strikes" law, which would see someone convicted
of three violent or sex crimes automatically labelled a dangerous offender.

Panel participants agreed the legal system needs dramatic changes.

Darlene Boyd has long advocated to abolish the faint hope clause that
allows first-degree murderers to

apply for parole after serving 15 years in prison.

Her 16-year-old daughter, Laurie, was abducted, raped and murdered in
1982. The two men responsible, Bob Brown and Jim Peters, had also
killed 23-year-old Debbie Stevens of High River six weeks earlier.

Taking a life should mean life in prison, no exceptions, she said.

"They killed two people, but under the law there was only one life
sentence. (Does that mean) our daughter was killed for free?" she
asked the round table.

Police forces are spending so much time bogged down in the courts, or
tied up on non-police matters, that there are not enough resources to
investigate more serious issues, said Calgary Police Services deputy
chief Pete Davison.

Preventing crime requires more than imposing stricter sentences or
reforming the courts.

Drugs are at the heart of everything from petty thefts to gangs.
Reducing the number of those buying drugs is key to controlling the
problem, but there aren't a tenth of the treatment beds available in
Calgary or Alberta to address addiction levels, Davison said.

He'd like to see drug treatment courts established in Calgary. Drug
courts can divert non-violent criminals breaking the law to support
their habit into treatment.

Those with mental health issues are also being tossed out on the
streets where they can become involved in criminal activities, when
they should be receiving long-term care, said Calgary EMS Chief Tom Sampson.

Approximately 1,500 mental health patients are responsible for 15,000
ambulance calls every year, he said.

"These are not bad people, but they're doing bad things because
they're not receiving appropriate guidance," said Sampson.

Burrows also wants to see the growing homeless population addressed
because people on the streets are prime targets for gangs looking to
recruit new members.

Calgary-Centre North MP Jim Prentice said forums in Edmonton and
Calgary demonstrate the growing complexity of crime and the need for
a variety of ways to attack it. He was especially concerned by
complaints the current laws protect criminals and not society.

"There's a lack of balance in the system. We're trying to deal with
that in the House of Commons. From

Internet luring, street racing, conditional sentencing, mandatory
minimum sentencing," he said.

"But a disproportionate amount of what we're dealing with is not
going to be dealt with in legislation alone."