Quote:
Originally Posted by puckluck
American high crime rate and the justice system really dont have any correlation. IMO there is high crime because it's pretty much a third world country in a lot of areas. The Mexicans sure don't help either. Poor Black areas sure don't help as well.
Why would anyone think that the crime rate would go down because of more lenient laws? Because I sure don't. I just want to see Canadian criminals actually serve real time for their crimes.
Remember Jackie Tran? What about Vuthy Kong? the guy who put a steak knife deep into someones back and killed him and got away with 7 years for MANSLAUGHTER. Got out and was re-arrested for drugs and only got 90 days.
If that's not a joke I don't know what is. No matter what other country you look at.
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So you think that crime is caused by low income and other external lifestyle factors yet think that a harsher punishment will dissuade someone from committing a crime? Crime caused by external factors is best dealt with by programs that deal with resolving those factors. Things like community programs, shame based sentencing (Google Aboriginal Sentencing Circles for an example of this).
A deterrent based system, such as one that typically advocates harsher punishments for crimes doesn't reduce the criminal mindset for these people because they often feel they don't have a choice. This type of system, such as the American system, and the Canadian system in the 70s have shown that they might slightly decrease crime of people who would be first time offenders, but drastically increase the rates of re offending for almost everyone who has been through the system. There is a reason that Canada has moved away from this model, with a reduction in crime rates, and it is because it really doesn't work as well as people like to think it does.