The wrong way to cut crime
By: Dan Gardner, Ottawa Citizen, 02/28/04

Everyone knows that the United States has gotten "tough on crime." It is the only western country with the death penalty. And over the last 25 years, American federal and state governments imposed brutal sentences, built harsh prisons and cut parole. Its incarceration rate, which was double Canada's in 1980, is now six times higher: There are more prisoners in the United States than there are people in the Maritimes.

Something else that distinguishes Canada and the U.S. is the homicide rate. In Canada, it is 1.85 per 100,000 people. In the U.S., it is 5.6 -- a little more than triple the Canadian rate.

One might think these facts would make criminal justice a point of pride in this country: We're kinder, gentler and safer. Why, we might even want to boast a little and invite the Yanks up to have a look at how we do things. But, Canadians being Canadians, precisely the opposite is happening.

There have been nine murders in Toronto since Jan. 1, compared to three in the same period last year. Most of the bloodshed involved gangs, and guns and the spectacular nature of the violence caught the imagination of the media. Coverage has been out of all proportion, particularly among the tabloid journalists and talk-radio demagogues who seem to relish nothing so much as manufacturing fear.

Toronto Mayor David Miller responded this week with promises of more social programs and an independent panel to look for solutions. This did not please the many critics who want -- although few put it this way -- an American solution. The system is too soft, says Toronto's police chief, Julian Fantino. "In the minds of far too many criminals, gangsters and that, crime pays." Anybody who uses a gun in the commission of a crime, said Mr. Fantino, "should get a minimum 10-year sentence. And you watch what kind o
message goes out."

The National Post seconded that in an editorial headlined "Get Tough On Crime."

"Sentences are short and parole conditions lenient," claimed the Post. American cities cut crime in the 1990s with "aggressive crackdowns on all offences petty and major both -- an approach that has consistently been found to net repeat offenders and lower street crime."

The Conservative party has yet to put together its criminal justice platform, but it's certain to look southward, as the Alliance platform did, because each of the leadership candidates has been talking up the American formula.

These are all very bad ideas. The Post's claims for the success of zero-tolerance policing is nonsense, as any number of criminologists would attest. And Mr. Fantino's call for mandatory minimum sentences on gun-related crime not only ignores extensive research showing such sentences don't work, it overlooks the fact that we already have several mandatory minimums for gun crime (including an automatic minimum of four years for using a gun to commit a serious crime such as robbery or rape) which came into force in 1996 and obviously failed to stop the current bloodshed.

Fans of the get-tough approach also need to consider a key fact: Over the last 20 years, crime trends in the U.S. and Canada have been close to identical -- even though the U.S. gorged on punishment to the point where one in four prisoners on the planet is in an American lockup. Clearly, the major crime trends are not driven by how tough the justice system is, so why import brutal American policies?

Toronto's problems also have to be kept in perspective. Over the last decade, the rate of property crime in Toronto has dropped 43 per cent. Violent crime declined from almost 1,000 crimes per 100,000 people to 820. And despite the city's problems with gangs, the homicide rate, which in 1992 was two per 100,000, is now ... two.

It would also help if the critics took a look at American cities before demanding American policies. Detroit cut crime greatly in the 1990s, but its homicide rate is still 10.9 -- more than five times higher than Toronto's rate. In Dallas, the homicide rate is 7.8 In Atlanta, it's 8.3. In Los Angeles, it's 11.8. In New York City, even after the much-hyped crime drop of the 1990s, the homicide rate stands at 6.6.

In Vancouver, the homicide rate is four. In Montreal, it is two. It is also two in Ottawa. In fact, because StatsCan rounds off its numbers, Ottawa's homicide rate in 1997 and 2001 were recorded as zero.

Of course, zero would be perfect and we're not perfect. But over the years, the Citizen has sent me across Canada, the U.S., Western Europe, Russia and the Third World. I can't say, like Hank Snow, I've been everywhere, but I have walked dark streets in many cities and I know I've never been anywhere safer than right here. I realize it's un-Canadian to say Canada has got something right, but the evidence leaves me with no choice.

Dan Gardner is a Citizen senior writer.