Sentencing homeless, drug-addicted people to jail is ineffective, judge says
32-year-old man racks up 120 criminal convictions over 11 years
The case of a Niagara man whose nine-page criminal record includes 120 convictions is an example of how incarceration is not a remedy to societal issues such as drug addiction and homelessness, a judge said Thursday.
“There’s probably a strong case to be made, and it has been made, that periodically throwing homeless, drug-addicted people into jail is counterproductive … which is sort of obvious,” Judge Elliott Allen said at the sentencing of Shane Dupuis. “This is a good example of what we don’t do well. His record is a living testament to that. We have done absolutely nothing over the past 11 years to correct this person’s behaviour.”
Dupuis pleaded guilty in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Thursday to several property-related offences and probation violations.
Court heard the 32-year-old has racked up 120 criminal convictions over the past 11 years and has spent numerous stints behind bars.
His latest charges involved the theft of items from parked cars in St. Catharines.
Defence lawyer Jeff Root said his client’s opioid addiction and transient lifestyle have made him a “nuisance to society.”
The judge agreed. “He is a nuisance to society because we don’t put the resources into assisting people in his circumstances,” Allen said.
The Crown had requested a custodial sentence, which the judge rejected. “I see no benefit for keeping this man in jail,” Allen said, before imposing a sentence of time served.
In May 2020, Dupuis was sentenced to time served and released from custody after he pleaded guilty to charges of theft, fraud and robbery.
His lawyer at the time said Dupuis developed a significant opioid addiction while living in Oshawa and had relocated to St. Catharines to try to escape that lifestyle.