TOUGH ON CRIME, BUT NOT IN MY BACKYARD

Despite falling crime rates, Canadians have been quick to embrace the
Conservative's "get tough on crime" agenda, which calls for longer,
more frequent and in some cases minimum sentences for criminals.

But in reality, the Tories are really just reacting for political
reasons to public anger at what is perceived to be a justice system
that is too "soft" on lawbreakers. Whenever news of a fresh, terrible
crime becomes widely known, there's an almost instant, knee-jerk
response from the public denouncing the courts and calling for longer
sentences, as if that were the entire answer. A spirit of revenge
fills the air.

But what happens when the government tries to build the new prisons
that will be needed for all this new "toughness?" Suddenly, Canadians
lose interest. It happened in Burnaby not long ago, but the latest
example is Penticton, where thousands of voters have signed a petition
opposing a proposed new prison, despite having recently elected a Tory
MP.

If we're going to lock up more people, more prisons will have to be
build somewhere. Or, given the expense of incarceration-$343,810 a
year for women and $223,687 for men in maximum security, according to
Parliament's budget officer -we could rethink the plan to incarcerate
more people as our main response to crime and seek other solutions.

But that's unlikely to happen, given the federal government's fresh
mandate and enthusiasm for its own policies.