CONSERVATIVES' TOUGH-ON-CRIME AGENDA BASED ON FALSE PREMISES

Program Will Replicate What Has Failed in the U.S., and Critics Say a
Study That Supports the Government Plan Is Sloppy and 'Embarrassing'

The Conservative administration in Ottawa continues to advocate U.S.
Republican-style legal solutions even though the American justice
system is in a shambles.

Prison populations are exploding, police and prosecution budgets are
strapped and in many states the legal-defender system has all but collapsed.

There is broad consensus the system costs too much and makes so many
mistakes that few receive justice.

A broad coalition that crosses ideological lines -from the
conservative Heritage Foundation to the left-of-centre American Civil
Liberties Union -recently called for sweeping reforms, the first
major overhaul in 40 years.

Their civil system is also collapsing -an estimated 80 per cent of
the poor don't have access to justice.

The underfunding is so bad that in some courts, filings are not being
accepted because they can't afford paper to make copies.

In New Hampshire, civil jury trials were suspended for various
periods in 2009 to save money.

Supreme Court of Texas Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson said his
state is preparing to close legal-aid offices, fire lawyers, refuse
services to those who are being evicted but have the legal right to
remain in their houses, and families who suffer from domestic
violence will have nowhere to turn.

"How will we handle the hordes of ... litigators who cannot afford
legal representation?" he asked.

"What will we do to prevent those who are innocent from languishing
in our jails and prisons?"

What don't the Tories understand about the situation south of the
49th parallel?

Why would Public Safety Minister Vic Toews offer us a supposedly
tough-on-crime package that will replicate what failed in the U.S.
and cost us at least $2.7 billion we can't afford over the next five years?

The stiffer parole standards alone are expected to cost about $386
million, the elimination of early parole an extra $200 million.

Most of the money will go to building new jails and housing the
increased prison population, but who really knows?

Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page says the government has not
offered "sufficient fiscal transparency" about the initiatives.

He thinks the price tag will be at least $5 billion.

Overall, the administration admits the costs of the crime program
have climbed to about $650 million more than first predicted. They
will undoubtedly go up.

The opposition parties say the government has its priorities out of whack.

No kidding.

The Tory agenda is grounded in two phoney assumptions -that crime is
increasing and that stiffer sentences will reduce it.

Aiming to support that stance, former Alberta prosecutor Scott
Newark's recently released study for the right-leaning
Macdonald-Laurier Institute was dismissed as bunk.

Critics said the erstwhile Harper government adviser compared apples
and oranges, provided inaccurate data and ignored evidence contrary
to his thesis to falsely assert: "Serious violent crime is increasing."

Toronto lawyer Eddie Greenspan and criminology prof Anthony Doob
savaged him for sloppy, distorted research. Simon Fraser University
criminologist Neil Boyd finished him off: "It's really badly done.
It's embarrassing, actually."

StatsCan figures for years have tracked a steady reduction of crime
across Canada -since 2000, the violent crime rate has gone down every year.

Still, I think crime rates are a mug's game -they fluctuate and there
are so many variables no one is sure why. Suffice to say the Tory
agenda is not supported by the facts and the response they advocate
has failed miserably in the U.S.

All you have to do is stop, look at the data and listen to the debate
south of the border. Instead of rhetoric, we need evidence-based,
public-safety policies.