Maybe we don’t have to go full US, but how about we maybe crank the incarceration numbers up to at least OECD average?Prepare to build more jails. The US rate of incarceration is 629 per 100,000 while Canada's was 109. I won't blame all of that difference on elected judges and crowns who know where their bread and butter comes from, but ...
I'm not fond of that idea - either feast or famine depending on the demographic of the area. In Toronto you will still have the same issues, and perhaps worse. In Alberta I am guessing its the other way - too much incarceration.
Agree with this and having the idea of building "private prisons" that are mandated to be full while government prisons have empty cells. I really do not think prisons for profit are ethical nor corrective - not that we do any better. What it will get you is the lowest paid bunch of staff and zero rehab efforts.Prepare to build more jails. The US rate of incarceration is 629 per 100,000 while Canada's was 109. I won't blame all of that difference on elected judges and crowns who know where their bread and butter comes from, but ...
Quick question.I haven't seen any studies so anything I say is purely guess work. There is the issue of likelihood of conviction which is cited above but I think in most of these cases its more of a question of costs of processing these crimes. Like the military, governments like to save money on the judicial process, from the costs of prosecutors to judges to the incarceration system. When the only two real punishments that the system can impose is fines - which most of these offenders can't or won't pay - or incarceration - which is expensive; the justice bureaucracy just shrugs its shoulders and says - "What the hell; let's just go for violent crimes." The problem goes right up the chain though. It's not just shoplifters that get a bye, serious high end white collar crime is poorly investigated and prosecuted because the system generally doesn't have the talent to deal with complex fraud operations. The number that do get prosecuted is tiny compared to the number actually committed.
Neither do they deserve to be re-elected., and yet...
Remember that I'm a fiscally conservative; social liberal guy BUT - there is a point where if you do not enforce social responsibility and an overarching safety of society in order to cater to either costs or extreme social liberality then you risk that your society might react in ways that you can't imagine or stop.
I'll go off the shoplifting issue for a second and go to the example of eco-protestors and the numerous examples of the police doing nothing to clear major roads of sit-in protestors. The times where citizens are going to take their own actions is getting closer. Police need to police. Prosecutors need to prosecute. Judges need to judge. Too many people think they can do whatever they want with impunity - whether eco-protestors or sovereign citizens or shop lifters.
People fail to mention that during that period of high incarceration in the US, the crime and homicide rate was on a good decline. Almost as if the two were somehow related.......
I don’t think it’s generally about the quality of the judge. It’s far more likely to turn on the quality of the prosecution and investigation, both of which in turn are linked to resources, prosecutorial and police. It’s not unusual in a lot of routine and relatively minor criminal cases for prosecutors to have barely any time to look at the file h til just before court. In contrast, where crown can look at a file early, they can recommend certain further investigative steps by police to close evidentiary gaps.
that is why Harper put mandatory minimums in. The only way to eliminate do gooders is to set a standard. If they don't conform, fire them
At least some of the floated policies have a mandatory report to parents built in: not sure that noting the edge cases (violently controlling/bigoted parents) is hysterical.
So much of the up-to-adolescence interaction with gender identity is what should be good parenting: let the kids play with externally trivial stuff unhindered. Names, clothing, toys, haircuts... none of that actually matters except to the kid figuring out who they are. Good core ethics. The ability to dig in and work and the self-respect and judgment to pull pin and say not worth it. Opportunities to excel at things. Broad life skills. A modicum of physical fitness. Those are crucial.
Mandatory minimums were struck down in several cases by appeals courts. That’s not people failing to do their jobs; that’s precisely the different parts of the system counterbalancing. Harper’s government could have chosen to use the Notwithstanding clause to prevent such an outcome, but they made a political decision not to. Suggesting judges ought to have been ‘fired’ because of this is absurd.
Sorry, who’s getting released on zero bail for murder and then going and doing it again? Bail in homicide cases is rare, and almost always comes with very strict and numerous conditions (the usual exception to that being police charged with homicide offences for killing someone in the course of duty.)
Bingo.
I’d generally agree with that- prolific offenders. And we know who they are. One of the challenges is there are so many repeat offenders with active arrest warrants out, and barely any capacity in the system to actively try to scoop them on the warrants rather than simply waiting for them to get caught doing something else stupid. With few exceptions, there aren’t teams of police whose job is simply to track down people with warrants out. You’ve gotta be a REALLY squeaky wheel to get that grease.
