Editor: Re: Too little, too late for offenders, Murphy's Law,
April 2
The usual responses to crime and crime prevention, such as more police presence, intensified video surveillance, mental health initiatives, drug enforcement etc., can be effective measures in dealing with chronic offenders.
However, no progress to combating an escalating situation of street crime will be made unless we tackle the fundamental judicial problem of the courts routinely handing out soft or no sentences, sending convicted felons back on the street through the revolving door of a "catchand-release" justice system, only to re-offend.
In today's higher-purpose nanny world, where nobody's accountable any more, drug addiction is not seen as a personal failing: It's a disease!
Criminal behaviour, chronic or otherwise, is not seen as a personal failing: It's having been victimized by societal exclusion and neglect! While certainly the health aspects of crime ought to receive greater attention, measures to help put an end to street crime should entail, first and foremost, resolute legislation for tougher sentencing that would send a clear message to would-be felons that judicial tolerance for street crimes is over.
Enough with crime and punishment Canadian-style, where the rights of convicted criminals trump the fate of their very real victims and where lenient sentences have made drug trafficking and organized crime the "crime that pays."
It's where bail is granted, few questions asked and criminals are free again to roam the streets.
E.W. Bopp
