MANDATORY SENTENCES WILL REDUCE CRIME RATE

Re: "Tory justice reforms too harsh, too hasty," Editorial, May 5.

The editorial claims that proposed mandatory sentences would have a
negligible impact on crime.

Steven D. Levitt, the noted economist from the University of Chicago,
reviewed the research in his best selling book Freakenomics and
concluded, "The evidence linking increased punishment with lower
crime rates is very strong."

He acknowledges that some criminologists disagree, but he found the
research overwhelmingly showed, "Harsh prison terms have been shown
to be both a deterrent ... and a prophylactic (for the criminal who
is already locked up)."

In his balanced approach, he notes that longer periods of
incarceration are not a cheap solution to crime, but they are
effective. He concludes that they accounted for about one-third of
the drop in the U.S. crime rate in the late 1990s.

The Journal is entitled to its opinion, but the facts seem to get in
the way of its conclusion.

Dwayne Chomyn, Edmonton