COMMUNITY COURTS AND SAFER STREETS

On Wednesday, Canada's first community court will open its doors in
Vancouver. The new tribunal hopes to succeed where traditional courts
have failed.

The idea is simple enough. Petty crime is endemic in the city's
Downtown Eastside. Conventional law enforcement has little impact
because most offenders are drug addicts and homeless people, many
with mental illness, who are undeterred by fines or jail time.

The new community court takes a different approach. It deals only
with minor offences, and then, only with defendants who plead guilty.
Anyone contesting a charge must go through the traditional system.

Instead of punitive sentences, the court will focus on treatment and
restitution. Offenders with mental health problems or drug addictions
- -- about two-thirds of the inmates in the prison system, according to
conservative estimates -- will be required to seek medical help.
Those who refuse might find themselves back in jail.

And where feasible, everyone who comes before this new court will be
sentenced to work in the community. That might involve anything from
serving in a soup kitchen to scrubbing graffiti off sidewalks.

Supporters have no illusions about the difficulties ahead. But they
believe that sending offenders out to rebuild the community is more
effective than confining them in a jail cell for a few weeks or months.

While novel by Canadian standards, community courts are not unheard
of. Most are modelled on the Red Hook Community Justice Centre in New
York City. Fifteen years ago, the Red Hook district was an urban
battle ground. Drug abuse and violence were rampant. Residents lived
in a state of siege.

After the Community Justice Centre began to operate, homicides and
violent crimes fell to a 30-year low and the district today is safer
than some Canadian cities.

Judge Thomas Gove, one of two judges serving on Vancouver's new
court, credits Red Hook's philosophy with the turnaround.
Rehabilitate petty offenders, he believes, and property crimes will
drop and the gangs and thugs who prey on them will disappear.

It's an intriguing approach, one that various groups -- including the
Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce -- have been advocating for Victoria.

But there are several considerations that need attention if such
programs are to succeed.

It's true that crime rates declined dramatically in Red Hook. But the
community court was just part of the response to the crime problem.
New York also increased its police forces, reintroduced community
patrols and aggressively prosecuted offenders at every level.

Nothing like those reforms has been tried in Vancouver. Courts have
been reluctant to crack down on serial offenders, even those with
scores of convictions. City police find the situation so frustrating,
the chief constable, Jim Chu, has taken his case to the public,
calling for much tougher sentences for career criminals with dozens
of convictions.

Then there is the question of treatment services. Requiring addicts
or the mentally ill to seek medical care and other services can only
work if that care is available. The new court expects to handle 1,500
cases per year. The Vancouver region has only a small fraction of the
spaces needed to handle that many people. The court's effectiveness
depends on giving offenders a choice -- treatment and change now, or
jail. It breaks down when no treatment is available.

Bottom up reform, of the kind favoured by Gove and advocates of
community courts, has many attractions. But it must be matched with
top-down support.

The provincial government will have to step up with a major infusion
of resources. Vancouver city council needs to support law enforcement.

And judges must understand the new court will only succeed if they
back it up. That means cracking down on those who refuse the
opportunity it offers.