How to fix our criminal justice system

[trilinearmipmap]

With the recent alarming increase in violent crimes, and slap-on-the-wrist sentencing by our un-elected judiciary, how would you change Canada's criminal justice system?

[StirCrazy]

I don;t believe any one of thoes is the answer.. but rather a combanation of all of them.

Except I do not feel judges shoudl be elected by the public or shoudl they be acountable to the public. they should be elected by there peers on standings of merrit (which is how they are apointed now) other wise we could have a society that will vote in judges on there popularity instead of there credentials.. look how polititions are voted in .. case closed.

Steve

[Quinn]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Except I do not feel judges shoudl be elected by the public or shoudl they be acountable to the public. they should be elected by there peers on standings of merrit (which is how they are apointed now) other wise we could have a society that will vote in judges on there popularity instead of there credentials.. look how polititions are voted in .. case closed.

Similar to why I do not feel that frequent referendums should be held - the average Canadian is not fully informed of all details of the situation, the history, the possibilities. Emotion and personal concerns would wreak havoc on the idea of "innocent until proven guilty". Leave the governing and sentencing in the hands of those who know about it and spend their lives studying it.

I also would be against any changes that make our criminal system any more like the United States. Our model should be Europe. The three-strikes rule is absurd - putting someone away for life because they happen to have been caught with a small quantity of marijuana? I do not support capital punishment, too many mistakes are made. And why stoop to the level of the criminal. People can change, albeit not that often. The Americans spend more on prisons than on education - I think that is truly disgusting.

In short, the Canadian criminal code is a highly complex and carefully thought-out system. I do not feel it needs any significant changes, only changes that are logical and inkeeping with the desires of the electorate.

[Buccaneer]

With the de-criminalization proposed for Ganja ( weed ) then the 3 strikes law would fit in perfectly ...
lets face it if somebody gets caught up with the wrong crowd once then alright slap on the wrist ( minor offence mind you ) ...
second time Ok did not learn the lesson ...
but a third time and either Dude is stupid or lazy or just dont give a damn and at that point aint gonna change ...
on first and second offence mandatory education in reversing criminal thinking and explaining what the consequences are for screwing up another time will be ... these are the people that laws are supposed to protect the innocent from ( since bearing arms to protect yourself is easier for criminals to do than average citizens ) ... rapists and child molesters need not go to the trouble of having three shots at our wives and daughters and mandatory life would be just fine with me.

Talk to any police officer about how lax our judicial system is and you will see things from a different point of view ... there is not a single cop out there that is happy with the resort style jails and the slap on the wrist attitude our laws permit the criminals to run roughshod over society with no regard for the victims whose lives in the case of rape for instance are ruined emotionally and for what ? so we dont look like what to the world ? we have to take the criminals off the streets so that kids can go out and play again without parents worrying to death that some freak that we are too afraid to lock up and throw away the key is back on the streets.

[Buccaneer]

To actually answer the poll properly here goes ...

Death penalty ... although in favour of the death penalty for first degree murder I have hesitation later on in life due to errors that " could " put a innocent person to death " however " ... if irrefutable DNA evidence were to prove the guilt of a perpetrator then I would have no problem with the switch being flipped.

3 strikes ... absolutely ! ... but clear definitions of applicable offences ( minor weed conviction etc excluded )

Judges ... they should be elected by their peers and NOT elected by the public

Texas style Jails ... hell yea ! ... some of these criminals will commit an offence just so they can " winter " in jail with their buds and then come out in time for spring and continue their criminal ( non-working ways ) ... if they really had it hard in jail then it would be a deterrent to getting there and maybe they would think twice before comitting a crime

GPS monitoring ... for those on parole this should be mandatory

Full sentences ... absolutely ... why not serve the sentence ( or whats the point in having a sentence in the first place ? ) or change the length so that it fits the crime

Victims having a say ... this is ludricous ... they are too emotionally attached to what happened and would probably lynch a guy for shoplifting ... if the laws were more reliable to deter criminals and or provide sufficient punishment then victims would be comfortable that justice would prevail.

One last comment and that is the jail system has to be geared more to rehab and changing behavior patterns than to relatively innocent first offenders going in and expert criminals with MBA degrees in criminal pathology coming out worse than they were before. There are very successfull companies right now that are changing the mindset of it's employees so that they understand the concept of positive thinking and that garbage in = garbage out so that positive behavior patterns will produce positive results ... we have to find a way to rehabilitate the first timer so that he/she does not get caught up in a behavior pattern that leads to a 3 strikes conviction and a permanent cell in our jails.

[Quinn]

I do agree that jails are too cushy. I thought that something else was meant by "Texas" jails. Now it makes sense.

[trilinearmipmap]

I couldn't set the poll options to include multiple choices so you can only choose one option.

As far as elected judges, this is an imperfect idea with its flaws. Our current system of unaccountable, appointed judges with their nutty left-wing bias is even worse.

Personally I favour an extremely penal regime such as is seen in Singapore or Japan. For example, the man who attacked the Korean girl in Stanley Park and left her with severe permanent brain damage. In Singapore he would have been sentenced to 200 strokes of the cane followed by a sentence of 25 years or perhaps life.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by trilinearmipmap

. In Singapore he would have been sentenced to 200 strokes of the cane followed by a sentence of 25 years or perhaps life.

Ahhh ... corporal punishment ... another excellent deterrent especially for first timers ... remember that US kid with the graffiti in Singapore was it ? ... he got 6 with the cane and deserved every one of em.

[Quinn]

I do not think we need police running around terrorizing the populace. I feel that Singapore takes things too far. I do realize that they have extremely low crime levels - at what cost? I feel that our problem is that of western societies in general. Individualism is valued above the greater society. People feel that they have the right to do whatever they want. Traditional (and in this case, Confucian) societies place more emphasis on the group, and I think the individual there feels that he or she has more obligations to society and is therefore less likely to act in ways not considered appropriate by the rest of the population. Look at the kids in Toronto. They seem to have honestly felt that torturing a cat was "art" and within their rights. As far as I'm concerned, they should be put away for a few years, preferably with a few bikers to teach them what domination really is.

I especially feel that Canadian and American society, particularly the younger crowd, is highly cynical, and if it's not the latest thing, it's not cool. The "artists" in Toronto thought they were pushing the envelope, breaking barriers. In my opinion, this is only partly their fault, as since birth, they have been conditioned to stand out by their family, peers, and most of all, the media. I should also take a moment to point out that I am strongly against this new "American Teen Idol" thing.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by teevee

I do not think we need police running around terrorizing the populace.

Quinn ... what are you saying here ? ... who said anything about police terrorizing anybody ? ... do you think it is the Singapore police doing the caning ? ... the caning is part of the sentence after being found guilty of a crime