Jail should make people better

Dear editor: I note the preponderance of public opinion in the Herald's online poll indicating that a substantial majority of respondents believe that judges are too soft on crime.

That may be the case – I have had (fortunately) little contact with the legal system thus far in my life, and know little about what takes place therein. I will agree with the opinion that something is not working. Before I pass judgement that judges are soft on crime, I want to consider some questions.

I wonder what information judges have that is not available to the public. What information was presented during trials? I don't have that information. What precedents exist? I don't know. What statutory limitations exist on sentencing? I don't know. What do others know that I don’t know when they say that judges are soft on crime?

While it is frustrating to see that people who have robbed, assaulted, defrauded, or otherwise caused pain and suffering to others passing through what appear to be rotating doors in the legal system, I wonder if some points might be considered. I may be naive, but I hold a strong belief that people who are healthy in mind and body do not willingly cause hurt to others. And, from what I see in the media, many of the people who harm others have been in one way or another harmed in their early years.

I suspect that many of these damaged people could benefit from being removed from their environment for a period. However, I question the use of incarceration for punishment. I have seen that some other countries provide much more in the way of therapeutic intervention rather than punitive. I have seen claims that recidivism is less in those places. Scandinavia comes to mind.

Perhaps if people were placed in an environment where they were treated more as capable of being contributing members of society, and taught how to treat others decently, we might even save some money. What could it cost to house somebody for a few years, help them discover their brokenness and do some healing, and equip them with skills that enable positive participation in society?

Would it cost more than cycles of repeated offences, repeated criminal investigations, trials, appeals, repeated incarcerations, repeated parole supervision, and whatever other costs that accumulate in a cycle of this sort? What if compassion is cheaper?

From what I’ve seen of the prison system in the U.S. and Canada (from the outside), it appears that tossing people into jail for a while and then turning them loose afterward is not highly effective. As we seek a legal system that serves the people of Canada, perhaps we need to be driven by evidence and a focus on long-term results.

Corrections Canada needs to be just that, rather than Canadian Offenders Temporary Storage Services. Ron Smuin Penticton