Pubdate: Wed, 05 Dec 2007
Source: Windsor Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Windsor Star
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501
Author: Greg Girard

MINIMUM SENTENCING NOT MONEY-MAKING PROPOSITION

You have been receiving letters concerning the Conservatives' minimum 
sentences law. Many complain that because it has not worked in the 
United States it will not work here. This argument is unconvincing 
for two reasons.

First, what Canadians do not realize is that mandatory minimum 
sentencing laws passed by the U.S. government were mainly put in 
place to pacify voters. The reality is that the judicial system 
almost completely ignores them.

Secondly, the U.S. justice system has one very significant difference 
from the Canadian system. Their penitentiaries are not owned by the 
government. They are mainly privately owned. They are a business, and 
are run like a business. They make money when they are full and they 
lose money when they are empty. So, it is in the best interest of the 
corporations who own them to keep them full, which they are, to overflowing.

If you were the owner of the huge cooperation which runs numerous 
penitentiaries, and you were only in it for the money, would you want 
to see laws enforced that would actually reduce the number of your clients?

A Johns Hopkins University study notes this change of focus in the 
U.S. "The incarceration of convicts -- once perceived as a grim 
governmental responsibility -- has become a thriving, recession-proof 
industry. Prison officials have shifted their priorities from inmate 
rehabilitation programs to budgetary concerns; instead of focusing on 
the prevention of recidivism, they focus on the reduction of "average 
daily inmate costs."

It will work in Canada if we hold judges accountable if they do not 
obey minimum sentencing, and do not allow anyone to make money if our 
jails are full, or lose money if they are empty.

GREG GIRARD

Windsor
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom