THE CRIME HYPE

Getting tough on crime may be an easy sell for the new Conservative
government, but we hope the debate -- if there is much of one -- will
be a thoughtful one. Throwing more people in prison for longer
periods of time will not reduce crime. Backing away from liberalizing
marijuana laws will not free up police officers to do more important work.

We agree that repeat criminals and those who use guns to commit crime
should be locked up for a long time.

It's a matter of justice and common sense that sentences fit the
offences. But let's not delude ourselves by thinking the lock 'em up
approach will actually reduce crime numbers which, in fact, have been
declining since the early 1990s.

Statistics Canada says "the violent crime rate has generally declined
since the early 1990s after increasing throughout most of the three
previous decades. Since 1993, it has fallen 11 per cent."

We recognize the family of a murder victim could care less about
Statistics Canada numbers, however the misleading hype generated by
politicians clouds our judgment.

In many cases, offenders come out of prison more dangerous and less
sociable than when they got in. We tell our young people to not hang
around with a bad crowd. Guess what? Prison is the ultimate bad
crowd. It's a university of sorts for thugs.

If the government doesn't pay attention and resources to
rehabilitating offenders, if it doesn't recognize that quality child
care, housing and education are at the root of fighting crime, then
the crime crackdown plank in Stephen Harper's throne speech is
political pandering of the worst kind.