IT'S TREATMENT TIME

Career Criminals Must Deal With Addictions, Mental Health Issues

Canada's police commissions are urging politicians to keep chronic
offenders in pre-trial custody so they get the help they need and the
public is protected.

Repeat criminals typically have addictions or mental health problems
and releasing them on bail simply gives them the opportunity to
continue victimizing people, says Brian Gibson, chairman of the
Edmonton Police Commission.

"We have to be able to hold these people and start giving them some
help because they won't do it themselves," says Gibson.

The solution, according to the Canadian Association of Police Boards,
which represents the country's police commissions, is to lock up
frequent offenders pre-trial and force them into treatment.

At its annual conference over the weekend, the association passed a
resolution from the Edmonton commission calling for legislative
reforms to keep repeat offenders in "secure treatment or other
custody" until the courts have ruled on their cases.

"Failure to respond to the underlying addiction problems from the
point of arrest and bail can only result in a failed justice response
to that offender's problem of habitual offending," noted a background
paper to the resolution.

My sympathies go out to the frustrated police officers and prosecutors
who see the same core group of lawbreakers over and over again. As for
many of the victims, they've probably lost much of their faith in the
justice system being able to control the career criminals who ruin so
many lives.

I'd love to see more of these revolving-door repeat criminals locked
up pre-trial to give law-abiding citizens a break. But I've long given
up on the idealistic notion that chronic offenders can be
rehabilitated behind bars.

Yes, jail prompts some people to turn the page, leave their criminal
pasts behind and become productive members of society. To those few,
congratulations. But I suspect most repeat lawbreakers simply burn out
by the time they're middle-aged.

Prison rehabilitation, I fear, is pretty much a myth.

Instead of trying to patch up damaged human beings when they're
already well into self-destruction mode, we should be tackling
problems at the outset.

That means pinpointing kids with mental health problems early and
getting immediate help.

Mental health problems in children are more prevalent than childhood
obesity or Type 1 diabetes, notes Tracy Vaillancourt, the Canada
Research Chair in children's mental health.

"We historically have done a terrible job when it comes to children's
mental health," says Vaillancourt, a University of Ottawa academic.

People in the field are doing a remarkable job, but there's not enough
funding, she says. Except for big school boards, school districts
can't afford psychologists, and teachers are left to deal with
children with significant behavioural issues, she says.

"Canada has a history of valuing treatment over prevention, so what do
you expect?"

TOUGH TASK

Inevitably, some kids start hanging out with the wrong crowd and get
into trouble, she adds. And she agrees with me that it's tough to
rehabilitate chronic offenders. "Once they're on that trajectory, it's
almost impossible to derail them," she says. "The best thing for them
to do is either turn 50 or get married."

Canada needs to better fund early childhood education and parenting
centres, as well as devoting more resources to identifying kids with
problems, says Vaillancourt.

Instead, we think we can fix them once they get to jail.