Chances are we are dealing with an underaged troll who just started Politics 102 at some hippie liberal university and thinks they know a few things.
First: Just because it takes up broadband, don't make it so.
Next: From the "illuminating" article At the same time, the "get tough" approach fails to address some of the root causes of crime such as persistent poverty, unemployment, lack of educational opportunities and social marginalization and will not reduce crime or create safer streets. Even if just half of the $7 billion currently spent on imprisoning people was invested in health, education, housing, welfare and other community-based services, the resulting resources would benefit whole communities, not merely those who are criminalized as a result of their attempts to survive increasingly inhospitable communities.
That would be delightful if there ever was a "get tough approach". Right now it is a "get the file off my docket" approach.
How can anyone argue that there is any genuine poverty in Canada? Because of some antiquated statistic that claims that anyone spending over 60 percent of their household income on living expenses is below the poverty line (not sure about that number). Gee, I guess I live in poverty, and so do my kids. No one lives in tar paper shacks unless they want to, no one dies on the street unless they want to. So unless people are going to support State enforced administration of medication for street people (the only truly needy that are out there) everyone can manage if they choose to.
Screw the social services. Make more prisons, lock up more people for longer. I've never met a "hardened" criminal. I have met many habitual offenders that know the system is a joke and don't give two craps about what sentence they are handed. No one does "hard time". Jails are workout and adult ed centers where the useless whittle away their time and brush up on usefull skill like safe cracking, b&e's and disarming police (Bruce Monkhouse can back that up). They provide nothing more than inconvenience and boredom for the non-self starter.
As far as the "inhospitable communities" are they not also the FREE housing that we are paying for? I thought we finished throwing money at ghetto's for the last 20 years and were trying to do something different? Want to raise your kid in an environment that is not all icky and labelling? A) DONT GET FRIGGIN PREGNANT UNTIL YOU CAN AFFORD A KID!!! B) If you do have a burning need to sire children from random DNA sources, then make a conscious decision to not raise them ghetto, git yer ass a job and an education and then ***POOF*** welcome back to normal society.
I just got back from Florida and there were stickers all over the place with regards to their mandatory violent offence laws. They looked something like this:
10-20-LIFE
PULL A GUN--10 YEARS
SHOOT A GUN--20 YEARS
SHOOT A PERSON--25 YEARS TO LIFE
See, to me that makes sense. If the judges want to treat shoplifting, auto theft, home and business break and enters, drunk driving, assaults and death threats, child porn, indecent exposure, criminal harassment, drug possession, breaching judicial orders and probations and a variety of other offences as not being against the law with respect to sentencing, then it doesn't look like anyone is going to be able to stop them from applying their socialist agenda against those offences. But at least for weapons offences and serious violent crimes, there needs to be minimum sentences, and where they exist they need to be enforced.
Cost? Who gives a crap? All governments waste so much money on the most retarded things that I would love to see my money going to something that mattered.
Declining crime rates? Bullshit. I imagine it is as a result of declining CONVICTION rates, since it is such a piece of cake to get adult diversions and absolute discharges for all of the above mentioned offences.
As for this offensive line of feces:
Like most people in Canada, I abhor violence and am extremely concerned about gun-related offences. But a simplistic response of longer and more punitive sentencing flies in the face of evidence from around the world. And it won't protect my children or yours. :rage:
Most people in Canada? So some people in Canada celebrate violence? Extremely concerned? As in "hmmm, gee. That is a terrible shame. Wish someone would do something about that. Let's build a basket ball court in an inner city area. That will help everything". Evidence around the world? Who gives a fig about the rest of the world? Lets take care of right here! Just because the United States is an out of control cluster hump of criminality and gun violence doesn't mean that we are not accelerating in that direction and we could nip this thing off NOW if people would just support some more direct methods. Like "put a bad guy in jail longer than a month".
Hell, I could even live without the mandatory sentencing if a$$hats even did the time they were sentenced to. Double and triple time credit for dead time, 1/3 of actual time in jail for sentence given. If some dink managed to get sentenced to one year in jail (and that is a pretty huge sentence) why does he need to get out early to "readjust" to normal life?
It won't protect your children? Gee, too bad your children are in jail somewhere. MY children are most certainly protected by a criminal being in jail.
There are so many patently ridiculous statements in that article that I am not even going to get into a rant over it (hmm, too late maybe). The statistics are unqualified, the sources are unnamed, the whole thing is a dogs granola breakfast.
I want my webcounter number back.
