People think of bloggers as astute observers of the press. I think if you read this blog carefully you realize that I, unfortunately, am not. I read a few foreign papers and get a fair amount of material from email, because of my work at ZNet. And on the other side, I don’t have the stomach to pay constant attention to the North American mainstream media. When I do try to read it in detail, it is often a very painful experience (the most recent and painful experience being the foray into Mitch Potter’s writing).
People think of bloggers as astute observers of the press. I think if you read this blog carefully you realize that I, unfortunately, am not. I read a few foreign papers and get a fair amount of material from email, because of my work at ZNet. And on the other side, I don’t have the stomach to pay constant attention to the North American mainstream media. When I do try to read it in detail, it is often a very painful experience (the most recent and painful experience being the foray into Mitch Potter’s writing).
So, whether it’s the press’s neglect or mine, I didn’t hear about the Canadian government’s massive changes of Canada’s criminal laws to harmonize the (in)justice system with that of the US. A couple of years back I posted a little review here of a few books on Canada’s criminal justice system. In it I noted that in 1999 Canada’s adult incarceration rate was 1/6 of that of the US. With harmonization of the laws and the adoption of the prison-industry complex economics that go with it, we can expect that incarceration rate to harmonize as well, with the tremendous human suffering and continued social decay that that implies. This is incredibly bad news. And like so much that’s bad in Canada, there is basically no political opposition to it. Some community groups in Toronto held an emergency demostration yesterday. But the bill passed the Liberal-Conservative federal coalition government.
And of course, as with so much of these things, it is much easier to push through some vile legislation that will have decades of horrific consequences than it will be to try to reverse it in the future. But inflicting irreversible damage on their societies is the very purpose of these organized movements, of which the Conservative-Liberal (and, on this issue, NDP-Bloc) coalition government is just the political expression.
Below is the callout for yesterday’s action by the justice laws coalition. If you want to help them, please get in touch. Certainly all help is needed.
Emergency Demonstration and Press Conference
TORIES RAM THROUGH US-STYLE ‘JUSTICE’ LAWS
Thursday, May 10th at 1pm, 2007
Department of Justice (Ontario Regional Office)
130 King Street West, Suite 3400 (East of York Street and St. Andrew Station)The Conservative Government is gearing up to expedite a cluster of
“get-tough on crime” laws, which could go to the Senate as early as this week. The proposed legislation signals a major shift in our
justice system, and this overhaul will mean dramatically more people incarcerated in our prisons, jails and detention centers. Far from providing safety, these punitive measures will further devastate communities of colour, First Nations communities, immigrants and refugees often racially profiled by law enforcement and already vastly over-represented in the courts and prison system.Join us this Thursday to tell Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson and
the Harper government that we oppose these unjust, costly and
ineffective changes. With NDP support, the Tories are resurrecting
Bill C-10, which creates several new mandatory minimum sentences for firearm offences and lengthens pre-existing minimums. Automatic prison terms remove judicial discretion and violate the principle that a sentence must be proportionate to the offence. When gun crime became prominent in the media on the heels of the death of a young white woman, the Tories took the opportunity to push their own political agenda. We question why the issue of gun violence is not raised when young black males are shot and killed, in particular when murdered by police. Political leaders routinely exclude the Black Community when developing solutions and this racist law is not the answer to systemic poverty and marginalization.Bill C-9, which eliminates conditional sentencing for certain
offences, is another top priority in the Harper agenda. A mechanism
used to divert minor convictions away from prison, conditional
sentences allow people to serve time in the community. This bill
contradicts the principle of using least restrictive measures and
violates section 718 of the Criminal Code that calls for imprisonment
as a last resort, with particular respect to First Nations prisoners.
According to the Department of Justice, property crimes account for
39% of conditional sentences. The impact of this law would be a
dramatic swelling in the currently overburdened provincial system and backlogs in the courts as more people plead not-guilty. It is
estimated that C-9 itself would require $1 billion in new prison
construction with $250-$500 million in operating costs.Overcrowding and inhumane conditions have led some judges to give people 3 days credit for every day they serve in pre-trial custody; Bill C-393 would prevent the courts from exercising this discretion.
Bill C-27 broadens the application of Dangerous Offender legislation
by reducing the requirements for a finding of dangerousness. It allows for applications in cases of offences that are subject to a sentence of only two years or more (it is currently 10 years). Therefore someone who has engaged in relatively minor offences, such as break and enter, assault, assault police, may be designated a Dangerous Offender – which carries an indeterminate sentence (with no release date) upon 3 convictions. The bill also creates reverse onus; by removing the presumption of innocence it is up to the Defendant to prove that they are not dangerous. A defence would be especially challenging for low-income people given the barriers in obtaining legal representation and expert reports. Bill C-27 has been compared in many ways to the notoriously cruel ‘Three Strikes’ laws in California.The passage of any one of the dozen bills before Parliament would be devastating and would further erode the rights of prisoners and their families. Other proposals include mandatory minimum sentences for drug trafficking (Bill C-320) and assault police (Bill C-352). Bill C-220 proposes the elimination of Statutory Release where prisoners are gradually reintegrated into the community; this bill would result in all federal prisoners serving an additional 1/3 more time. The Tories have furthermore vowed to crackdown on youth. They have hired pro-privatization Rob Sampson to conduct a review of federal prisons.
Another concern is the Tories’ cancellation of harm reduction measures in prison such as the safer tattooing project, which means that more prisoners will die from preventable health related causes. Taser guns for prison guards are also being piloted at two federal prisons. The Tory law-and-order agenda is especially unconscionable in the context of a crime rate (including violent crime) that continues to steadily decline.
We question why the Tories have earmarked millions for law enforcement and prison construction if they really think these repressive policies will ‘deter’ crime. In the United States, prison rates skyrocketed over the last 30 years with the introduction of similar laws and today there are 2.3 million people in American prisons.
NOW is the time for us to tell ALL political parties that we don’t
need more prisons. Imagine if the $7 billion currently spent here on
incarceration went to restoring cuts to education, housing, health
care and more.Please get involved!
-Endorse the statement below & join the coalition
-Come to the demonstration on Thursday, May 10th
-Sign and circulate the petition
For more info:
The Justice Laws Coalition
justice_laws_coalition@yahoo.ca
www.pjac.org
_________________________________We are writing to invite you to join the Justice Laws Coalition (JLC),
which seeks to mobilize community groups in opposition to the punitive crime bills introduced by the Government. The proposed “get tough on crime” laws are unjust, costly and ineffective. If implemented, they will lead to further targeting of already over-policed communities and a drastic increase in the prison population with even greater over-representation of people of colour. The proposed laws will further the tradition of law enforcement that incarcerates First Nations people and persons with mental disabilities as a means of social control. We advocate that the money currently earmarked in the budget for law enforcement and the prison industry should instead be invested into community centers, health care and education alternatives that genuinely address the needs of our communities.There are several anti-crime bills the Tories seek to expedite through the House of Commons. Bill C-10 imposes increased mandatory minimum sentences for firearms offences; Bill C-9 reduces the use of conditional sentencing (community supervision and conditional release); and Bill C-27 creates reverse onus and broadens the scope of who is designated a ‘Dangerous Offender’. Proposed legislation also eliminates the right of federal prisoners to Statutory Release, which is meant to gradually integrate prisoners back into the community during the last third of their sentence.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and the Harper Government are
expediting the passage of their harsh law-and-order agenda and now, allied with the NDP, are resurrecting the draconian bills previously softened with amendments by the Opposition. Based on the experience of the United States, we have every reason to believe additional mandatory penalties will similarly deteriorate judicial discretion, generate wrongful convictions, and further devastate the African Canadian community by incarcerating young men at a disproportionate rate.Prisons do not make our communities safer. We steadfastly oppose these repressive changes and demand that the Harper Government scrap the proposed cluster of justice bills in Parliament. While the
Conservatives claim these laws will ‘deter’ crime, they have allocated millions of dollars towards the construction of new prisons. This move reveals the Harper Government’s thinly veiled agenda with regard to these bills, which aims to increase the prison population and funnel public funds into the prison industry.If enacted, these laws will ensnare even more people into the prison industry, constituting a war on the poor and racialized bodies. The proposed changes are an affront to the Charter and offend the principles of equality and justice that are at the core of our democracy. This approach is especially unconscionable in the context of a crime rate that continues to decline. We call on all political parties to develop humane informed justice platforms based on genuine consultation.
Please email justice_laws_coalition@yahoo.ca to join and become
informed about how we can resist the Government’s attempts to enact these repressive criminal (in)justice laws.In Solidarity,
The Justice Laws Coalition (JLC)
justice_laws_coalition@yahoo.ca
www.pjac.org
