JUDGE TAKES STAND ON TOUGHER SENTENCING

Ottawa`s push to have offenders serve minimum prison terms will cost
more and likely won`t reduce crime, says the province`s top judge.

Chief Judge Lance Finch of the B.C. Court of Appeal says Americans
have far more mandatory-minimum sentences than Canada, yet they have
the highest incarceration rate in the western world. He prefers
Canada`s system, in which judges have a wider range of sentencing
options.

"If you just look at the big picture, it seems to be working. We`ve
got a reduction in crime rate and we have a fraction of the people in
jail at a fraction of the cost that`s being incurred in other
jurisdictions," Finch said in Kelowna this week.

The Conservative government took aim at organized crime and gang-
related violence last year by creating a new minimum sentence of four
years in prison, without bail, for reckless shootings. Public Safety
Minister Vic Toews recently proposed a 10-year mandatory minimum jail
term for human smugglers ushering in more than 50 people at a time.

Finch concedes government is entitled to change the law, but says
minimum sentences have failed to achieve the results some people think
they should.

"The circumstances in no two cases are the same. The present
requirement of the Criminal Code is to impose the least severe
sentence that is commensurate with the gravity of the offence and the
circumstances of the offender."

Finch was in Kelowna for a ceremony and meetings to observe the
appellant court`s 100th anniversary in B.C. He told reporters that
judges hear complaints the courts are too soft on some criminals. Yet,
the crime rate continues to fall, he said.

"We had a gang war in Vancouver a couple of years ago and there were a
whole bunch of homicides," he said. "It had nothing to do with the
sentencing policy of the court. You kill somebody, you get a life
sentence.""When you hear stories about lenient sentences leading to an
increase in crime, I really think people ought to . . . look at the
statistics."

RCMP have criticized the Court of Appeal for being soft on marijuana
growers and drug dealers. Cases that see repeat offenders sentenced to
jail time are sometimes appealed to the province`s top court. In many
cases, police say, their sentences are reduced.

"We hear the same things ourselves," Finch said. "Most of this stuff
seems to come on a one-off basis. It`s the story of the day -- a
three-year sentence reduced to two years less a day. Well, why are the
courts being soft? You`d have to look at the record in the case and
the reasons that were given."

The Court of Appeal must defer to a sentence imposed at trial. Before
it can shorten a jail term, the person appealing has to prove there`s
something out of whack with the length or severity of the sentence,
Finch said.

TV cameras are banned from courtroom trials in Canada, but are
becoming more common in the U.S. Finch supports the ban because
cameras can have a chilling effect on witnesses and lawyers.

TV news programs south of the border show someone in tears or an angry
exchange and a voice-over synopsis of the case. The coverage is mostly
headlines and entertainment, he said.

"I get (more information) from the print media . . . This is a
different era we`re living in, with Internet and all the electronic
media available. I worry very much about the perils facing the print
media . . . because I think they are critically important to the
courts and I think they`re critically important to the public."