Dumb on crime indeed

Much of Harper's "tough" on crime agenda has been described as dumb and that is particularly true in the area of parole or supervised release.

Inmates in our prison system live in an environment of constant tension where even the most insignificant mistake can have extremely dire consequences.Prisoners are also stripped of the ability to make even the simplest of decisions such as what to wear,or eat plus when to go to bed or when to get up.While these may seem mundane to us, they are the building blocks in our ability to cope in society and like any other skill if we don't use them we lose them. Simply tossing them out on the street without helping them to first decompress and re-acquire or in some cases learn the skills needed to function in society  is a recipe for disaster not just for the offender but for all of us.

Managing an offenders release allows us to not only direct the offender to programs that aid in his or her re-integration into society but also allows us to monitor how he/she is coping enabling authorities to either adjust programming, increase restrictions or even revoke parole,keeping someone in prison until their sentence is up doesn't allow any of that. As the above chart shows the more managed the release the better the outcomes.

Overall the re-admission rate for offenders is 44% while for those on some type of early release it is 37.1% and for those released on mandatory supervision it is 46.6% almost double that of full parole which is 25.1%. True the higher numbers for mandatory release reflect the fact that these offenders were considered at higher risk to re-offend in the first place,but they also highlight that the parole board usually gets it right.

So while parole has proven to be an effective tool for managing an offenders re-integration into society Harper once again refuses to accept the evidence and has decided that parole must become harder to get. Dumb on crime indeed,

11 Year Old Jordan Brown Faces Life In Jail Without Parole

Jordan Brown, who was 11 when he allegedly killed his father's pregnant fiancee, could face a life sentence with no parole.Brown allegedly carried out the killing using his own hunting rifle, a shotgun designed specifically for children. Thats right they even make guns specifically for children.

As Jordan's father stated "Try to explain to a 12-year-old what the rest of your life means. It's incomprehensible for him,"

In Pennsylvania all juveniles are automatically treated as adults unless a judge decides otherwise.Pennsylvania prosecutes more children as adults than any of the other 43 states that still engage in this violation of international law. Only the US and Somalia still incarcerate children for life
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"It is shocking that anyone this young could face life imprisonment without parole, let alone in a country which labels itself as a progressive force for human rights," said Susan Lee, head of the Amnesty International's Americas operation.

In 2005 the US supreme court abolished the death penalty for those under18.Then last May it ruled that juveniles could not be subjected to life without parole for any crime other than homicide.But that still leaves about 2,400 children  facing spending the rest of their lives in prison.

This is the type of legal system that Harper wishes to import to Canada. One would be hard pressed to call it a system of justice since justice requires fairness and common sense.