TOUGH ON CRIME IDEOLOGY DOESN'T FIX PROBLEMS

The ongoing changes to the justice system proposed by the Harper
government are regressive and troubling. Such "tough on crime
policies" may appeal to the Conservatives' support base, but will do
little to address the real problems.

Measures such as mandatory sentences, elimination of statutory
release and the end to two-for-one credit for remand time all will
contribute to a larger and more expensive prison system.

Mandatory sentences reduce judges to the status of clerks who carry
out the strict rules, with no opportunity to respond independently to
the facts of a case or the offenders' situation. Statutory release,
which allows inmates to be released after completing two-thirds of
their sentence, is a valuable carrot for encouraging good behaviour.

The reasoning behind the two-for-one sentencing is that inmates held
on remand are placed in worse conditions than convicted criminals,
even though accused persons awaiting trial are presumed innocent
until proven guilty. They have no access to programs and sit in
overcrowded conditions until their trial date.

Currently there are 13,200 inmates in 58 penitentiaries across
Canada. The daily cost to hold a man in a federal prison was $235 in
2005, while the cost to hold a woman was $467. The correctional
service of Canada has an annual budget of about $1.8 billion. Tough
on crime comes with a price tag that is social as well as financial.

On the social side, families and communities both suffer. Jails are
cesspools where gangs grow and thrive. Young inmates see prisons as
gladiator schools for young Natives. Gangs rule and joining one
becomes mandatory for self-preservation. Drugs are easily available.

So, many inmates are released more violent and addicted than when
they went in. This means these individuals are being released into
the community, often aboriginal communities, as ticking time bombs.
Unfortunately, 40 per cent of federal convicts are back behind bars
two years after their release.

The federal government's attitude was reflected by Regina-Qu'Appelle
MP Andrew Scheer, who stated: "The first group that complains about
our tough-on-crime agenda are the criminals; the second group are the
defence lawyers."

This cavalier comment doesn't reflect the damage that the tough on
crime policies will have on the aboriginal population. It is a
divisive comment that demonizes anyone who dares to question the
Conservatives' reasoning.

Canada's aboriginal people make up about three per cent of the total
population but we constitute 20 per cent of the penitentiary
population. In Saskatchewan, the proportion of aboriginals in
provincial jails is even higher. In 2002, a report by the provincial
ombudsman reported that 76 per cent of the adult inmate population in
Saskatchewan was aboriginal.

The roots of crime and punishment lie in poverty. Studies that track
inmates from their homes to jail show overwhelming evidence that the
majority of the convicts come from poor neighbourhoods and, in many
cases, these are persons of colour. The individuals are released back
into the same communities where their troubles began.

Canada is heading down the same sorry road as the United States
where, ironically, legislators are now reviewing the fact that tough
anti-crime policies haven't worked. Instead, they have created an
expensive and bloated prison system that hasn't reduced the crime
rates. The United States has by far the highest rate of incarceration
of any western country, with 725 persons per 100,000 of the
population in jail, compared to 107 in Canada and 65 in Norway.

U.S. police services responded to the politicians' demands to get
tough on crime by rounding up the low-hanging fruit. So, drug
addicts, petty thieves and prostitutes, who are easy to catch and
prosecute, were rounded up and imprisoned. This was a quick and easy
way to show that they were getting tough on crime, the big time drug
dealers went unpunished and the drug problems in the U.S. continued
to grow and worsen.

The tough on crime policy there has been an unmitigated failure.
Today, about one-third of low-income black men in America either are
in jail, on parole or awaiting sentencing.

Aboriginal people in Canada face the same grim reality as this
government adopts a revenge mentality rather than one that stresses
rehabilitation or making improvements to reserves and urban
neighborhoods. Colonialism has institutionalized our people. First we
were incarcerated in residential schools, then we were warehoused on
reserves, administered by the colonial office and now we are being
jailed in record numbers.

In spite of all the hype, the crime rate is falling. The Harper
government is perusing a failed policy and the opposition parties
don't see it as a fight worth having with a minority government in
tough economic times. This does not bode well for our people and we
can look to greater rates of incarceration in the future, when
positive development and community rehabilitation is required.