To make society safer ...

• Author: Davison, Charles B.
• Position: Criminal law - Column

As I write this column, the family members of the four Mounted Police officers killed near Mayerthorpe, Alberta, in March 2005 (and their political allies and supporters) have begun an effort to have longer sentences of imprisonment imposed upon persons considered to be violent and at high risk to reoffend. By publication time, we will have experienced a federal election campaign in which crime and punishment platforms became a major issue.

A recent letter in the Edmonton Journal made the point that criminal defence lawyers are in no better position that anyone else to suggest what is--or is not--an appropriate and proper penalty for the commission of any particular crime. In a sense, that point is valid: in so far as society wishes to respond to crime with a politically or socially symbolic move, defence lawyers--and police, prosecutors, and victims groups--have no claim to any special expertise or insights. If we want Canada to become known as a place where certain offences are met with a uniformly strict symbolic response--life imprisonment for all sex offenders, for example--that is primarily a political issue that no sector of society can claim unusual knowledge or awareness of. Similarly, if we want to adopt a position whereby every person charged with a minor first offence receives a discharge, then we should discuss the benefits and detriments of that approach and decide accordingly. (This debate has, of course, been taking place over the last few years in relation to the decriminalization of marijuana in Canada.)

However, if we want the sentences imposed in response to the commission of crime to accomplish more than the merely symbolic, I suggest that criminal defence lawyers do approach the discussion from a unique perspective (as, I admit, do the police and victims' lobbies). Our democracy thrives on the freest exchange of views on all subjects and issues. Just as police and victims' groups can be counted on to call for tougher punishments and longer sentences in light of their personal experiences, most members of the defence bar will probably point out that jailing people for longer and longer periods is not likely to make society a safer place in any lasting or substantive way. Putting people who have committed crimes in jail for longer and longer periods might make us all feel good inside for a while, but the comfort is largely false and misleading if we are hoping for longer term security. Defence lawyers are not likely to...