Ideology over fact, ideology over logic, ideology over good governance
Having parliament is session and reading the daily onslaught of proposed changes that the Reformatories want to introduce is more frustrating that having them all prorogued and we do not even have the Olympics to watch.
The Minister of Justice is proposing changes to the Youth Offenders rules, adding the ability to publish the names of minors convicted of crimes, the admittance of evidence from previous encounters with the law, not convictions, previous encounters, and prosecutors will now have to justify why they are not trying a 14 year old as an adult in a serious offense, not the other way around. The proposals are being wrapped in the oxymoronic message that they are putting the public first, focussing on confinement rather than rehabilitation.
The facts according to experts who actually concern themselves with such things as facts, are that youth crime has continued to decline each year, including the current year, for both serious and non serious crimes and that the Supreme Court has already ruled that children must be treated differently that adults when assessing and assigning punishment for crimes. But those are just the facts.
Other legal experts believe the rehashed proposals are nothing more than political gamesmanship to a narrow political base and similar to the tactics used by Bush with his No Child Left Behind bullshit, this new reformatory proposal will achieve the opposite of it's lofty packaging.
Logically locking up our youngest offenders instead of focussing on their rehabilitation, while there is still time and better chance for rehabilitation will more likely produce hardened young adults who will have better chance of becoming professional criminals as soon as they are back on the streets, than productive members of society. But that is just too logical.
Unfortunately facts and logic do not exist for the Harper reformatories or if realized, they are just ignored. The main purpose of these draconian changes to our societal laws is to satisfy a rabid narrow base of bible bangers, living in privileged, sheltered rural based cities, who annually wear a cowboy hat, satisfied. Therefore allowing the Harpercons to focus their neocon endeavor of supporting the oil industry.
Nothing really new here. Same as it always was. It is just frustrating because they are back at so called work.
Linked to Globe article
The Minister of Justice is proposing changes to the Youth Offenders rules, adding the ability to publish the names of minors convicted of crimes, the admittance of evidence from previous encounters with the law, not convictions, previous encounters, and prosecutors will now have to justify why they are not trying a 14 year old as an adult in a serious offense, not the other way around. The proposals are being wrapped in the oxymoronic message that they are putting the public first, focussing on confinement rather than rehabilitation.
The facts according to experts who actually concern themselves with such things as facts, are that youth crime has continued to decline each year, including the current year, for both serious and non serious crimes and that the Supreme Court has already ruled that children must be treated differently that adults when assessing and assigning punishment for crimes. But those are just the facts.
Other legal experts believe the rehashed proposals are nothing more than political gamesmanship to a narrow political base and similar to the tactics used by Bush with his No Child Left Behind bullshit, this new reformatory proposal will achieve the opposite of it's lofty packaging.
Logically locking up our youngest offenders instead of focussing on their rehabilitation, while there is still time and better chance for rehabilitation will more likely produce hardened young adults who will have better chance of becoming professional criminals as soon as they are back on the streets, than productive members of society. But that is just too logical.
Unfortunately facts and logic do not exist for the Harper reformatories or if realized, they are just ignored. The main purpose of these draconian changes to our societal laws is to satisfy a rabid narrow base of bible bangers, living in privileged, sheltered rural based cities, who annually wear a cowboy hat, satisfied. Therefore allowing the Harpercons to focus their neocon endeavor of supporting the oil industry.
Nothing really new here. Same as it always was. It is just frustrating because they are back at so called work.
Linked to Globe article
Comments
Hell, that's nothing, just wait until Harper get his majority and they get that whole "presumed guilty until proven innocent" thing in place as an efficiency measure.
In the meantime, you might be interested in this old post of mine plus ca change, eh?
I guess its not such a crisis after all.
I wouldn't call this a crisis, they is just the everyday way that Harper's reform party works. As for Ignatieff, I'm not sure where he stands on the proposed changes to the criminal code and maybe that is your point.
Unfortunately I do not have a party that panders to my personal morals and ideology, now or in the past.
Which as always forced me to support the lesser of all evils when the time came around to cast my vote and also why for the last three elections it has been anybody by these radical righties.
I think I read your post back then or in re-reading it today, it seems so logical that I think I did.
I'm playing hooky today and enjoying some alternative personality time. Which was great because I was home when Harris, Lee and Blanchard delivered their motions.
Good day for democracy.
sorry from the typos I'm responding using an iphone.