For the umpteenth time, a judge’s gavel has quashed sections of Stephen Harper’s tough-on-crime legislation for violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
This time, it is mandatory jail time for non-violent drug convictions, which the court found to be cruel and unusual.
Politically, you can’t go wrong getting tough on the bad guys. People have a visceral response to crime. But those who sit in court day in and day out know the reality is never so black and white.
Forcing judges, against their own better understanding, to mete out punishments disproportionate to crimes has been costly, and not just to our prison and court system. There is a human cost for the people who have been caught up in a politically convenient but ultimately unjust legislation.
If public safety is what we’re after, it’s too late by the time a case reaches a judge’s sentencing. Far more important are the interventions among high-risk populations that we know are far more likely to fall into crime in the first place. The legacies of poverty, untreated mental illness, abuse and addiction don’t suddenly disappear following a long stretch in the clink.
We’ve yet to see what will define the relationship between the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the charter his father wrote, but we’re heartened by instructions he issued his justice minister upon her taking office.
The emphasis now is “increasing the safety of our communities, getting value for money, addressing gaps and ensuring that current provisions are aligned with the objectives of the criminal justice system.”
That’s a big improvement from “Lock ’em up and throw away the key.”
– from the North Shore News
