JUSTICE MINISTERS READY THEIR WISH LISTS

Criminals who use syringes as weapons should be punished as severely as
those who use guns, say provincial justice ministers who are also lobbying
Ottawa to create a new crime of "inhalant trafficking" and to boost
penalties for drunk drivers who ride with children.

The three novel proposals are part of a packed agenda that the provincial
and territorial ministers responsible for justice will pursue today and
tomorrow in Ottawa during their annual meeting with their federal
counterpart, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.

Topping the list of federal reforms urgently sought by the provinces is the
abolition - or at least the severe restriction - of the availability of
conditional sentencing. Conditional sentences like house arrest, curfews,
electronic monitoring and other alternatives to incarceration can be
imposed by judges for offenders deemed not dangerous who would otherwise be
jailed for less than two years. Most provinces want people who commit
violent crimes - or offences that result in death - to be ineligible for
conditional sentences.

Other provincial priorities include: increasing federal funding for
programs that aim to rehabilitate young offenders; making motor vehicle
theft an indictable offence; closer monitoring of high-risk offenders after
they are released from prison; the creation of a national "Amber Alert"
network linking existing provincial notification systems for high-risk
child abductions; enhanced penalties for the production and sale of the
drug crystal meth; and raising the age of consent for sexual activity to
16, from 14.