Pubdate: Tue, 27 Nov 2007
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Richard Foot, The Ottawa Citizen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

CRIME BILL 'A SLAP IN THE FACE' TO JUDGES, GOMERY SAYS

Says Tories' Plan For Mandatory Jail Terms Implies Jurists Don't Know 
How To Sentence

Retired Quebec judge John Gomery says the Harper government's plan to 
create mandatory minimum jail terms for drug crimes is a "slap in the 
face" to judges and suggests the Conservatives don't trust them to 
craft appropriate sentences for individual cases.

"This legislation basically shows a mistrust of the judiciary to 
impose proper sentences when people come before them," says Mr. 
Gomery, who came to national prominence in 2004 when he chaired an 
inquiry into the sponsorship scandal.

"Judges view this kind of legislation as a slap in the face."

Most sitting judges are unwilling to publicly state their views on 
the long list of law-and-order reforms now before Parliament. Calls 
on the matter to the presidents of the Canadian Superior Courts 
Judges Association and the Canadian Association of Provincial Court 
Judges have gone unanswered.

But Mr. Gomery, who retired from the Quebec Superior Court following 
the inquiry in 2006, says judges are unhappy about this and other 
legislation that suggest a failure on their part to impose proper sentences.

"Judges find that it's an implied criticism when Parliament imposes 
mandatory sentences," Mr. Gomery says. "It leaves the impression that 
judges aren't using their discretion wisely or in accordance with the 
wishes of the legislature. And judges are resentful about that."

Aside from murder, which has long carried a mandatory sentence of 
life in prison, Canada's first widespread use of mandatory jail terms 
came in 1995, when the former Liberal government imposed minimum 
prison terms for a number of offences committed with a firearm.

The Harper government now wants to increase the length of those 
mandatory terms through changes to the Firearms Act. It also wants to 
create new mandatory jail terms for several drug offences.

Currently, anyone convicted of a possessing, producing or trafficking 
illicit drugs receives a sentence chosen by a judge under a range of 
options set out in federal law.

The Conservatives instead want to impose mandatory minimum jail terms 
for a number of crimes, ranging from six months in prison for growing 
and selling a single marijuana plant, to three years for growing 
cocaine, heroin and other serious drugs.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has said he wants to send a message: 
"If you sell or produce drugs, you pay with jail time."

While the Conservative proposals would allow judges to exempt certain 
small-scale offenders from prison terms if they complete a 
court-supervised drug treatment program, most other offenders would 
automatically be sent to jail.

Mr. Gomery, who presided over criminal cases in Quebec for more than 
20 years, says sentencing drug dealers is one of the toughest jobs of 
any judge.

"All judges recognize that selling drugs, or producing marijuana in a 
large grow-op, is a horrendous crime," he says.

"On the other hand, sometimes those crimes are committed by people 
who have drifted into drug use to finance their habit. They start 
selling drugs themselves and are really just a middleman for a much 
more important drug dealer."

Mr. Gomery admits that mandatory sentences will relieve judges from 
what he calls the "agonizing" task of choosing an appropriate sentence.

"Most judges who sit on criminal matters would say sentencing is the 
hardest part of their job," he says. "But if Parliament has said, 
'You've got to give this guy five years,' then you shrug your 
shoulders and obey the law and sentence them, even if you feel it's 
unnecessarily harsh.

"Still, my own personal view is that it's a mistake to take away 
discretion from judges," says Mr. Gomery.

"In the last couple of decades, the U.S. has gone the way of 
mandatory sentencing for a whole bunch of crimes and the result is 
their prisons are jammed.

"I find it hard to understand how the richest country in the world 
has one of -- if not the -- highest prison population in the world. 
There's something wrong there, and the problem is mandatory 
sentences. I'm disappointed to see Canada drifting in that direction."
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