Pubdate: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 Source: Daily Gleaner (CN NK) Copyright: 2010 Brunswick News Inc. Contact: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3857 Page: C9 Author: Chris McCormick THE WAR AGAINST IMAGINARY CRIME It was like watching a kid's party game, with children staggering around with blindfolds on trying to pin the tail on the donkey. Or maybe it was the adult version, except everybody's drunk and they're using daggers. I was watching a video of Stockwell Day, Treasury Board minister, making a presentation to the media on Canada's Economic Action Plan. He was asked why, "during a time of declining crime rates he wanted to blow nine billion dollars on prisons." He was asked if that didn't send a confusing message to Canadians about the government's role as deficit fighter. The answer was that the government was "very concerned about the increase in unreported crime that surveys clearly showed are happening, and that people aren't reporting at the rate they used to." He continued by saying that yes, the crime had gone down, but largely due to government measures, such as specifically preventive programs designed for people, families and communities at risk. However he said it was important to realize that crime was much higher than it was 40 years ago. A reporter asked him if higher rates of unreported crime meant that the official crime rate was a myth. Mr. Day declined to comment on that but suggested it was alarming that the rate of unreported crime was so high and that there were too many serious incidents of crime happening. Another reporter said he was baffled, and asked "there is a statistic about unreported crimes?" He asked if they aren't reported, how can we have any idea of those crimes. He said, "You are just not making sense, or I may be just a dolt and I don't understand. Help me out on this one." Mr. Day was calm. He wasn't insulted. He explained that when Canadians are asked the question about if a crime happens to them, do they report it to the police that an increasing number report that they don't. The reporter was clearly astonished. "Is that like rape, assault or murder? Canadians are saying, 'Don't worry about it, it's OK.'" He asked if these are crimes for which people could be sent to prison. Mr. Day was patient. He offered to send the reporter references, a technique I find always works to infuriate people. It's clear the government has endeavoured for some while to "get tough on crime," a crowd-pleaser that never fails to raise the rabble on the right while making the left shift edgily for the exit. From mandatory prison sentences for violent crime to reduced use of house arrest, the government has announced it's no softie. If it takes doubling the cost of corrections, they're willing to spend our money. The government has also announced tougher sentences for drugs, gambling and prostitution. There's nothing like sin when it comes time for another favourite party-game: shooting fish in a barrel. No politician is going to stand up in public and say it's ridiculous to criminalize exchanging sex for money. Mr. Day's position has been unflinching as the wasps of scorn and ridicule swirl around him. Columnists have satirized being victims of unreported crime, as in "my bike was stolen and I didn't report it." And others have pointed out that the swins of drugs, gambling and prostitution are only crimes because the government's own laws have made them so. Commentators on newspaper sites that have covered this story point out that in the past, Mr. Day has said he believes research shouldn't be done on homosexuals, that some domestic violence stem from simple insults, and that since the Earth is only 6,000 years old, dinosaurs and humans walked around at the same time. Now I don't know if he really said those things, but that's the sort of stuff that gets said when the party runs late. Building prisons to house criminals whose crimes were unreported seems logical to me, if we can find them. But using tougher sentences and mandatory prison terms for sin crimes, that doesn't make sense. And neither does reducing time for credit served in crowded jails or attacking house arrest where people can keep their jobs and families together for crimes they're unlikely to repeat. But that's the kind of party it was - loud, boisterous and a good excuse for random craziness. - -------------------------------------- Chris McCormick is a criminologist at St. Thomas University, and his column appears every two weeks. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart