Background:
Regardless of trends in crime statistics, many Canadians remain concerned about the level of criminal activity in many communities and believe it should be reduced.
Solutions to reduce crime, prevent victimization and enhance community safety require a comprehensive approach, including remedial measures to deal in particular with repeat and violent offenders, and additional approaches and resources to encourage prevention and deal with the root causes of crime. There are already many proven crime reduction programs across the country that could benefit all communities.
Even though comprehensive approaches to crime prevention are ultimately more effective than a narrow “tough on crime” agenda, the comprehensive approach requires a much more effective communications strategy to achieve a more positive image in the media and among many voters.
Action Required:
The Liberal Party of Canada, as government should commit to working with other levels of government and non-governmental organizations on a comprehensive crime prevention strategy for Canada, which include establishing targets for crime reduction, review of existing legislation, effective legislative measures to deal with repeat and violent offenders, and expansion of programs and resources that have been proven to reduce crime and make Canadian communities safer.
Policy Recommendation:
The Liberal Party of Canada should commit to developing a comprehensive strategy for the prevention of crime.
The Liberal Party of Canada should promote an approach to reducing crime based on prevention and rehabilitation.
Liberal Party of Canada (Manitoba)
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The National Policy and Electoral Platform (NPEP) Committee had initiated a review of the current policy process prior to the Spring 2011 federal elections. Part of this review was a pilot exercise for a new resolution format.
The Liberal Party of Canada (Manitoba) Association has piloted a new resolution format based on feedback from previous policy conventions. Your comments on this new format will be greatly appreciated and should be sent to policy@liberal.ca with the subject line “new resolution format”.
the party should frame their position on Justice and Crime prevention under the umbrella term ‘SMART ON CRIME’–lets own this phrase,if our policies are judged to be good the Conservative’s approach would automatically be understood to be the converse-let the people make that connection in their own minds automatically-
SMART ON CRIME, I like that. This would be smart on crime.
I’ve read somewhere that 85% of the crime in the country is related to drugs. That most of the money that the crime organizations make are from drugs. So we need to look at who has an interest in keeping the status quo:
1) The Drug Importers
2) The Manufacturers of Illegal Drugs
3) The Criminal organizations that distribute the
drugs.
4) The local Crime Boss, and his front people.
5) The people selling drugs on the street corners.
6) The people selling drugs on our school grounds.
You all know of these guys, but have you considered:
7) The lawyers who defend the criminals in court.
8) The lobbyists who are working the halls of
government and justice.
9) The police force, who receive funding based on the
size of the Drug problem. The police have no
interest at all in catching the the drug pushers
and closing down their organizations.
10) How about our prisons, without drug offenders they
would have to close half of them.
11) Judges, Crown Prosecutors, court personal etc.
12) How about the whole drug enforcement system.
The list just goes on and on: All these people have an interest in keeping the system as it is.
So how do we stop it?
To stop it you need to take the profit motive out of it.
So how do we do this?
Well let’s start by treating drug addiction as a disease (which it is) and giving the addicts prescriptions for
their drugs. You then have a chance to reach these people and maybe turn their lives around, at the very least you take them off the street. Reducing street crime, break and entries, prostitution, muggings etc.
Addicts would be getting cleaner drugs, and clean needles, reducing the costs to the health care system.
This is complicated and start up is costly, no where near as costly as the crime it would replace, and the legal system the drug trade supports. Complicated yes, not as complicated as the system we are running now.
Next step legalize recreational drugs, and sell them through government outlets. Costly start up but would very quickly pay the cost of the whole preventive system. Also, people would be getting cleaner drugs, and would be less likely to try street drugs.
There would be very little reason for the development of new recreational drugs, (no money in it).
There would be no one at our schools pushing drugs at our children.
Our Police and court system could be refocused on other hard core crime problems.
Over time, the number of addicted people would drop, but the big change would be people coming into the system from the hard drug side of things.
There would no longer be a profit motive, at least not on any great scale.
I do hope that we do not go for “Manifistations” or “Proximate Causes”. While the Policy mentioned “Root Causes”, it was not key to the Policy. It has to be KEY to the policy.
Unless we address root causes, the manifistations may reduce in their one face to appear in another face.
Just study the Vanier Community Catchemnt Report of 2009 to see the vriance of most of the obsevations and indicators from Ottawa median.
We have to go deeper than meets the eye.
The issue is not being tough on crime, it is being SMART ON CRIME!
We want it to be “EFFECTIVE” on Crime.
That needs serious “Tailored Interventions” that will need planning, funding and political will.
Youth crime and youth and police relations and youth and confidence in the Government are related issues.
I could not agree more, this is being SMART ON CRIME!
We want it to be “EFFECTIVE” on Crime. That needs serious “Tailored Interventions” that will need planning, funding and political will. Youth crime and youth and police relations and youth and confidence in the Government are related issues.