'WE HAVE A LEGAL SYSTEM MORE THAN A JUSTICE SYSTEM'

Forum Addresses Crime-And-Punishment Agenda

CALGARY -- Canada's courts need an overhaul so they can punish
criminals more effectively, Conservative MPs heard Saturday during a
roundtable discussion on crime.

Police officers, lawyers and victim advocates met to advise the
Conservative federal government on its crime-and-punishment agenda.

"We have a legal system more than a justice system," Calgary North
East MP Art Hanger said after the meeting. "It's just not effective."

Courts are more concerned about ensuring proper process was followed
than they are about examining whether an accused committed a crime,
said Calgary Ald. Craig Burrows.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is 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
labeled a dangerous offender.

Panel participants agreed the legal system needs dramatic changes.

Darlene Boyd has long called for the government to abolish the faint-
hope clause that allows people convicted of first-degree murder to
apply for parole after serving 15 years in prison.

Boyd's 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 with no exceptions, Boyd
said. "They killed two people, but under the law there was only one
life sentence. (Does that mean) our daughter was killed for free?"

Police officers are spending so much time bogged down in the courts,
or tied up on other matters, that not enough resources remain 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, Davison said.

He said drugs are at the root of many crimes. Reducing the number of
people buying illegal drugs would see a corresponding reduction in a
wide range of crimes. But Alberta doesn't have nearly enough
treatment beds to address addiction levels, Davison said.

He'd like to see drug-treatment courts established in Calgary. Such
courts can divert non-violent criminals into treatment for their drug
habits.

People with mental-health issues can get involved in criminal
activities when they are not receiving the care they need, said Tom
Sampson, chief of Calgary's Emergency Medical Services.

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

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.