Harper government misguided in its tough-on-crime approach
Dec 29, 2011
from the Globa and Mail editorial:
David Daubney, a justice-department adviser, could have gone quietly into retirement. Instead, he tried to talk some sense back into this country. Prison overcrowding will worsen and breed violence, he told The Globe's Kirk Makin in an exit interview. The tough-on-crime route has been tried and failed. The government knows what it knows, doesn't listen to evidence and is reluctant to ask for research to be undertaken.
“The policy is based on fear – fear of criminals and fear of people who are different. I do not think these harsh views are deeply held.” It's a good point. A new poll shows that 93 per cent of Canadians feel safe from crime. Why, then, spend billions of dollars to go backward?
Mr. Daubney has strong credentials. As an MP – in the Progressive Conservative Party – he chaired a justice committee that in 1988 recommended a greater focus on alternatives to jail. (Rob Nicholson, the current Justice Minister, was the vice-chair of that committee.) Mr. Daubney is also the chair of Penal Reform International – which works for the reduction of imprisonment and an end to capital punishment – and the 2011 winner of the International Prize for Restorative Justice.
“Somebody has to take the risk of talking,” he said.
....At some point, government needs to take the risk of listening.
