…And on the 101st day after being sworn-in, the Harper Conservatives lived up to their promise to crack down on lenient sentencing for violent criminals from our too liberal, Liberal-appointed judiciary. At this rate, they may not need a full term in office.
As with the Harper Conservatives’ new federal budget, the preponderance of editorial comment from the sensible media (and even from nearly all the liberal media) is supportive of the Conservatives’ crime-fighting legislation introduced yesterday.
Some smart-think comes from the Winnipeg Sun (Sun Media group) again this morning, from their cadre of smart-folk. One commentary is from their columnist Tom Brodbeck, and the other is the paper’s lead editorial. (Hat tip: Ross M.)
The federal government’s new plan to crack down on gun-related crimes and end conditional sentences for serious crimes is going to swell the ranks of Canada’s prisons and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
So what?
Expanding prisons and building a few new penitentiaries sounds like a very small price to pay to hold violent criminals accountable for their actions.
It’s a hell of a lot better than letting them loose on the street to commit more crimes, to hurt and terrorize more people and cost Canadians hundreds of millions of dollars in other ways.
Federal Justice Minister Vic Toews tabled two bills yesterday designed to strengthen the sentencing principles of deterrence and denunciation in our court rooms.
One bill would increase minimum sentences for certain gun crimes. The other would eliminate conditional sentences—which allow criminals to serve their time at home watching NHL playoffs on their big-screen TVs—for serious crimes.
The social worker types don’t like it because they say time behind bars doesn’t rehabilitate offenders.
What they don’t understand is that we don’t always care about rehabilitating criminals.
What we care about first and foremost is that people are held responsible for committing serious crimes.
And their lead editorial:
Federal Justice Minister Vic Toews tabled two very sensible bills in Parliament yesterday, the first phase of the Conservative government’s plan to overhaul Canada’s beleaguered justice system.
The proposed changes will mean criminals convicted of gun-related crimes will be taken off the streets for longer periods of time.
And people convicted of serious crimes will no longer be eligible for conditional sentences, or house arrest.
These are not knee-jerk reactions to the growing problem of gun crimes in this country. They are well-thought-out improvements to our sentencing laws that will ensure courts hand down meaningful sentences for firearms’ offences.
Too often we see judges giving dangerous, repeat offenders who use firearms in the commission of an offence short sentences, arguing lengthy penitentiary terms would serve no purpose.
Those judges are wrong. And we need legislative change to ensure people who commit serious crimes face real consequences for their actions.
Judges who give conditional sentences to those convicted of serious crimes such as manslaughter or impaired driving causing death are also wrong.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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