Pubdate: Tue, 02 Feb 2010 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2010 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) MINISTER HAS SWITCHED SIDES ON SENTENCING Rob Nicholson Was Vice-Chairman Of A 1988 Parliamentary Committee That Opposed Fixed Sentences Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, one of Canada's most vocal champions of fixed minimum prison sentences, once opposed the idea of removing discretion for judges to sentence as they see fit. As a Tory backbencher in 1988, Nicholson was vice-chairman of a parliamentary committee that rejected the expansion of automatic incarceration, asserting that it doesn't work, overcrowds jails and takes too hefty of a social and financial toll. The sweeping report on sentencing, based on a yearlong study of the criminal justice system, concluded that judges should follow guidelines, but that "each case should be decided on its own facts." Two decades later, mandatory minimum jail terms are central to the Harper government's law-and-order agenda. Nicholson, as justice minister for the last three years, has aggressively pushed for automatic incarceration for selling drugs, growing marijuana, white-collar crime and offences involving guns. He has repeatedly accused his political opponents of being soft on crime for challenging his get-tough approach. Most recently, he blasted the Senate when it amended a key bill designed to impose automatic prison terms for a variety of drug-related crimes, by redrafting a component that would jail pot growers who cultivate as few as five plants. The bill died when Prime Minister Stephen Harper suspended Parliament in late December, but Nicholson said last week he will revive his proposed legislation. Nicholson's press secretary, Pamela Stephens, said that times have changed since the 1988 report and the government's plans for mandatory minimums have "evolved" to reflect society's demand for tougher penalties for serious crimes. "I can't get into a debate about minimum penalties, but as a government we believe that it is the role of the legislators to reflect the citizens who elected them, and it is the role of the legislator to give guidance on maximum penalties as well as minimum penalties," Stephens said. Drug trafficking, for instance, is now fuelled by organized crime and therefore demands harsh penalties, she said. Stephens pointed out that the previous Liberal government also created many mandatory minimum sentences and the Conservatives have been building on that list, which now stands at 43. New Democrat Libby Davies said Nicholson's apparent change shows that the Harper Conservatives are more ideologically driven on crime than were the former Tories. "I think it does show very much a difference, between the old Conservatives and today's Conservatives, which are hell bent on this ideological agenda of being tough on crime," said Davies, who strongly opposes minimum prison terms for drug crimes. "This is all that Stephen Harper's got and they have wrapped themselves in that and they have played on people's fear." The vast majority of witnesses who appeared at Senate and House of Commons committee hearings on Nicholson's drug-sentencing bill lambasted mandatory minimums. Several American states have retreated from mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes in recent years, amid mounting evidence they have a disproportionate effect on young people, visible minorities and the poor, yet haven't made a difference in curtailing the drug trade. At the time of the 1988 report, minimum mandatory terms existed in the Criminal Code for murder, treason, drunk driving causing injury or death and the more minor offence of bookmaking. The justice committee 22 years ago opted against wider expansion, as recommended a year earlier by a sentencing commission. The committee recommended only violent sexual assault carry a term of at least 10 years. The former Liberal government dramatically increased the list, imposing fixed incarceration terms for a variety of gun-related crimes, as part of its 1995 gun-control package, and later, for nine child exploitation crimes. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D