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Terrence Corcoran at the National Post is making a point that I’ve been making for a while. The sorts of crimes that the Harper government are targeting are victimless crimes. Gambling, prostitution, and drugs are all voluntary exchanges that do not require the use of force. So people who decide to engage in such activity do not need the protection of the state.
The only victim that proponents can point to here is society as an abstract victim of what they consider to be crass behaviour. I would be happy to engage in that debate, but even if you agree with the society as victim idea, shouldn’t victims of assault and rape be the highest priority of the police? Shouldn’t you be concerned that resources are being shifted over to lower priority crimes?
Mr. Corcoran also makes the point that the new government proposal to upgrade these victimless crimes targets the low end providers of drugs, gambling, and prostitution. These people will spend at least 5 years in jail and come out doing what? Really, after more than 5 years being locked up with other criminals they are going to come out and be what?
They are going to be criminals, except worse criminals because they have no other option in life. In the United States this created a permanent underclass of criminals and it is certain to do the same here. In the long run, these tough on crime proposals will institutionalize violence on the street. This is not mere speculation; it is evident by the ever worsening ghettos of the United States.
The truly bizarre thing is that there is no clear reason for why the government is doing this. Polling data shows that Canadians on a whole are not really worried about crime. Bringing out more and more crime legislation is doing nothing to increase the support of the Conservative Party. So what is the political gain?
Why is the government doing this?
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3 comments:
I would argue that the crimes quoted are most certainly not victimless. The scourge of gun crime in this country is directly related to drugs. People commit crimes against others to obtain money or property to obtain drugs. They do the same to obtain funds for gambling. Prostitution often sees persons forced into the profession who are unwilling or underage. There is also a thriving sex trade in women, many from other countries, who are held against their will to perform sex for no recompense.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson unveiled a series of regulation changes on Wednesday that have expanded the definition of a “serious crime” to include a series of gambling offences, and crimes related to drug trafficking and prostitution.
While the changes boost penalties for those crimes, the primary goal is to widen the use of the sophisticated law-enforcement tools that can be used to crack indictable offences committed by organized crime groups.
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A "tough on crime" narrative is a winning campaign issue for us. Let the Opps and media trot out their polling data all they want.
That will just aggravate the 40 % or so of the population, for whom crime reduction is an important issue. The coalition parties are more than welcome to fight over the other 60 % of voters.
And it's not just violent crimes we are talking about. There are also more and more financial scams, as we are lately seeing with mortgage fraud here in Alberta, and the ponzi schemes last year in Quebec. Financial crimes tie into our narrative about a need for a National Securities regulator. And lower crime makes Canada an even better place to invest, and set up business.
The Opps are skating on thin ice here. We have a coherent, consistent, hard-hitting, broad narrative, that just needs some fine-tuning in it's presentation.
Gadget,
Victims of gun crime are victims of gun crime they are not victims of every other crime that the criminal ever committed as well. If things like pot are in the hands of such violent criminals it is only because the state does not allow honest people to be involved.
I agree with you that there are times that the prostitutes themselves can be victims, but again this wouldn't be possible if these women could be open about their profession and call in the help of the police.
Calgary Junkie,
40% of the population? Is that why the government ranges between 30% and 35% support? You can pretend that a strategy that hasn't worked will one day work for only so long.
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