Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
(snip)
The rise in prison populations might be a predictable outcome, but it's not a predicted one--at least not according to what these guys are saying.
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It's fair to say that there is spin on both sides:
I'm sure the conservatives know that the changes in sentencing has contributed to the observed increase in prison populations. Even if Toews and Day aren't that bright, they get briefed by their ministries and have been told that populations are on the rise. What they don't want to say is that their policies has led to the need to spend money on prisons (i.e. that their tough-on-crime agenda is in opposition to their smaller government agenda) so they get into the lie of unreported crime.
Similarly, I'm sure the liberals know that crime rate is not the same as number of prisoners and I'm sure they are aware that prisons are currently overcrowded and that populations are increasing, not decreasing. They don't want to acknowledge that by voting with the government (for fear of seeming weak on crime) or by abstaining on their justice bills, they have contributed to this problem. They instead trot out a lie which says that a falling crime rate means we don't need more prison space, that prisons are not currently overcrowded and that they aren't projected to need more space in the near term.
The trouble is, both of the above lies have a kernel of truth to them. Crime reporting rates has been shown to be in decline in the last 30 years because people know that there isn't much point and falling crime rates might well mean that we need less prisons, especially if we get into a situation of zero or negative population growth in the future.