The Senate hearings into Bill C-10 opened today with two passionate voices for victims’ rights. Joseph Wamback and Marie-France Marcil each have close family members who were victims of violent crime. Mr. Wamback is also the chair and co-founder of the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation.
In listening to Mr. Wamback’s opening remarks, I was particularly interested in the evidence that he brought forward claiming that harsher sentencing has both a deterrent effect, and reduces recidivism, or relapses of criminal behaviour. He stated that in the state of California, their “3 strikes and you’re out” law has been successful in those two aims, and he therefore supported the introduction of mandatory minimum sentencing (MMS) for a very wide array of offences in Bill C-10.
But just yesterday, Giuseppe Battista of the Barreau du Québec, stated exactly the opposite to the committee. Who, then, is right in this argument?
I took a look into the research on the effects of the “3 strikes” legislation, which is on the books in California and a number of other American states. While some academics have put research forward that supports Mr. Wamback’s claims, this research is by far the minority view.
The main issue seems to be that Mr. Wamback was looking only at California, where there was a slight dip in crime rates after the introduction of the law. However, when interpreting statistical trends, it’s important to have a control case to compare the data to. As soon as we look at California in comparison with other jurisdictions with similar laws on the books, or even if we compare jurisdictions within California, we find that the “3 strikes” provisions have no effect on recidivism or deterrence.
“What this research does show is that, beyond anything, it is race, socio-economic status and access to opportunity that determines one’s likelihood of going to jail for committing a crime.”
As a parent of a victim of violent crime, Mr. Wamback has suffered a terrible loss. He has focused his grief by turning his energy towards helping the victims of crime. Unfortunately, he brought misleading evidence to the Senate today, supporting laws that will put people in prison who do not deserve to be there. The “3 strikes” law has put 1,300 people away for life in California for committing drug crimes, and a further 6,830 have received harsher “second strike” sentences.
“We all know that two wrongs don’t make a right. Further criminalization of drugs and drug users does not have any positive effect on public safety. With no concrete evidence that MMS or harsher sentencing improves the safety of Canadians, we need to put forward alternatives to this failed policy“
Putting people in prison, especially for drug use, will do nothing to deter the abuse of drugs and alcohol—in fact, it will only increase the use of drugs, and the spread of blood-borne diseases.
Ultimately, C-10 will put more people in prison that do not deserve to be there, and in doing so will commit an even more grave injustice.
