News (Media Awareness Project) - Canada: Cotler Under Pressure To Get Tough On Grow-Ops |
Title: | Canada: Cotler Under Pressure To Get Tough On Grow-Ops |
Published On: | 2005-03-14 |
Source: | Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Fetched On: | 2008-01-16 21:06:07 |
COTLER UNDER PRESSURE TO GET TOUGH ON GROW-OPS
MPs Seek Minimum Sentence For Owners
OTTAWA -- A movement to impose minimum sentences on marijuana grow-op
owners is gaining ground in the minority Parliament over the objections of
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.
New attention has been focused on grow-ops since the killing of four RCMP
officers during a raid 11 days ago. That has prompted MPs to consider
joining the ranks of those who complain that judges have been too lenient
on a criminal activity that is causing harm in many communities.
The push for tougher measures comes even though Mr. Cotler and many in the
legal community argue that minimum sentences will backfire, and
civil-liberties advocates denounce it as a "knee-jerk" movement that will
do more harm than good.
Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan's criticism of the judiciary for
imposing lenient sentences for grow-ops, made the day after the deaths of
the four officers, has only fuelled the debate. Mr. Cotler, however,
insisted that several studies have concluded minimum sentences do not work.
"They've all come to the conclusion that minimum sentences are neither a
deterrent nor are they effective," Mr. Cotler said.
The Conservatives have already called for anyone convicted of operating a
marijuana grow operation to face a minimum of two years in jail.
Conservative justice critic Vic Toews argues that minimum sentences send a
signal to the courts about the public's concern over the problem of grow-ops.
Several Liberal MPs say they are considering backing minimum sentences as
grow operations spark community concerns in places such as Scarborough,
Ont., where residential homes have been converted into marijuana hothouses.
The measure could be added to a bill already before the Commons to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, but stiffen
penalties for grow operations.
"There seems to be a lot of converts in terms of the seriousness and how to
approach this," Liberal MP Dan McTeague said.
Minimum-sentence provisions will pass easily if the Bloc Quebecois --
already sensitive to the issue because of prominent grow-op problems in
rural areas outside Montreal -- moves to support them.
"We're not allergic to the idea," said Bloc justice critic Richard Marceau.
"But at first glance, we are probably more against than for."
On Friday, a delegation from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
lobbied Mr. Cotler against existing minimum-sentence provision at the same
time they sought clemency for Robert Latimer.
Mr. Latimer,a Saskatchewan farmer, was convicted in 1997 of second-degree
murder for the killing of his daughter Tracy, who suffered from pain from
cerebral palsy and extensive surgeries. He received the minimum sentence of
25 years in jail, with no eligibility of parole for 10 years.
The CCLA argues that case highlights the kind of special circumstances that
people do not take into account when they advocate minimum sentences.
"There is simply too much knee-jerk reaction in the press, saying there is
a problem, let's have a minimum sentence -- as if that solves problems,"
former Saskatchewan premier Allan Blakeney, a member of the CCLA
delegation, said after meeting with Mr. Cotler.
Some members of the legal community argue that minimum sentences prevent
plea bargains by making it impossible for accused persons to obtain a
lesser sentence by pleading guilty. Prosecutors also may avoid laying
charges that carry a minimum sentence that they consider unfair, or that a
judge might not want to impose.
There is a patchwork of mandatory minimum sentences in Canada's Criminal
Code for crimes that range from bookmaking (taking and paying bets) to
first-degree murder.
They have typically been introduced in periods of intense public outcry,
such as the mandatory minimum sentences for some drug crimes that arose
from a heroin scare in the 1920s.
"It's a series of ad-hoc decisions made by Parliaments over the years to
respond to something that seemed to be of concern at the time. There's no
real rhyme or reason to what we now have in the [Criminal] Code," said
David Daubney, general counsel for the Department of Justice's sentencing
reform team.
Although Canada added new mandatory minimum sentences for several gun
crimes in the 1990s, when a series of violent gun crimes pushed Ottawa to
toughen gun-control laws, prosecutors often do not press such charges, a
Justice Department study found.
Prosecutors withdrew or stayed two-thirds of the charges filed under
Section 85 of the Criminal Code, which provides for stiffer penalties for
using a gun to commit a crime.
"They were either plea arrangements being made or prosecutors just coming
to the view that it would be unjust to send someone to jail for a year
based on the circumstances that were there," Mr. Daubney said.
MPs Seek Minimum Sentence For Owners
OTTAWA -- A movement to impose minimum sentences on marijuana grow-op
owners is gaining ground in the minority Parliament over the objections of
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler.
New attention has been focused on grow-ops since the killing of four RCMP
officers during a raid 11 days ago. That has prompted MPs to consider
joining the ranks of those who complain that judges have been too lenient
on a criminal activity that is causing harm in many communities.
The push for tougher measures comes even though Mr. Cotler and many in the
legal community argue that minimum sentences will backfire, and
civil-liberties advocates denounce it as a "knee-jerk" movement that will
do more harm than good.
Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan's criticism of the judiciary for
imposing lenient sentences for grow-ops, made the day after the deaths of
the four officers, has only fuelled the debate. Mr. Cotler, however,
insisted that several studies have concluded minimum sentences do not work.
"They've all come to the conclusion that minimum sentences are neither a
deterrent nor are they effective," Mr. Cotler said.
The Conservatives have already called for anyone convicted of operating a
marijuana grow operation to face a minimum of two years in jail.
Conservative justice critic Vic Toews argues that minimum sentences send a
signal to the courts about the public's concern over the problem of grow-ops.
Several Liberal MPs say they are considering backing minimum sentences as
grow operations spark community concerns in places such as Scarborough,
Ont., where residential homes have been converted into marijuana hothouses.
The measure could be added to a bill already before the Commons to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, but stiffen
penalties for grow operations.
"There seems to be a lot of converts in terms of the seriousness and how to
approach this," Liberal MP Dan McTeague said.
Minimum-sentence provisions will pass easily if the Bloc Quebecois --
already sensitive to the issue because of prominent grow-op problems in
rural areas outside Montreal -- moves to support them.
"We're not allergic to the idea," said Bloc justice critic Richard Marceau.
"But at first glance, we are probably more against than for."
On Friday, a delegation from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
lobbied Mr. Cotler against existing minimum-sentence provision at the same
time they sought clemency for Robert Latimer.
Mr. Latimer,a Saskatchewan farmer, was convicted in 1997 of second-degree
murder for the killing of his daughter Tracy, who suffered from pain from
cerebral palsy and extensive surgeries. He received the minimum sentence of
25 years in jail, with no eligibility of parole for 10 years.
The CCLA argues that case highlights the kind of special circumstances that
people do not take into account when they advocate minimum sentences.
"There is simply too much knee-jerk reaction in the press, saying there is
a problem, let's have a minimum sentence -- as if that solves problems,"
former Saskatchewan premier Allan Blakeney, a member of the CCLA
delegation, said after meeting with Mr. Cotler.
Some members of the legal community argue that minimum sentences prevent
plea bargains by making it impossible for accused persons to obtain a
lesser sentence by pleading guilty. Prosecutors also may avoid laying
charges that carry a minimum sentence that they consider unfair, or that a
judge might not want to impose.
There is a patchwork of mandatory minimum sentences in Canada's Criminal
Code for crimes that range from bookmaking (taking and paying bets) to
first-degree murder.
They have typically been introduced in periods of intense public outcry,
such as the mandatory minimum sentences for some drug crimes that arose
from a heroin scare in the 1920s.
"It's a series of ad-hoc decisions made by Parliaments over the years to
respond to something that seemed to be of concern at the time. There's no
real rhyme or reason to what we now have in the [Criminal] Code," said
David Daubney, general counsel for the Department of Justice's sentencing
reform team.
Although Canada added new mandatory minimum sentences for several gun
crimes in the 1990s, when a series of violent gun crimes pushed Ottawa to
toughen gun-control laws, prosecutors often do not press such charges, a
Justice Department study found.
Prosecutors withdrew or stayed two-thirds of the charges filed under
Section 85 of the Criminal Code, which provides for stiffer penalties for
using a gun to commit a crime.
"They were either plea arrangements being made or prosecutors just coming
to the view that it would be unjust to send someone to jail for a year
based on the circumstances that were there," Mr. Daubney said.
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