Several people have asked me if I would be resuming my blog. I am pleased to be back after a few months’ hiatus! Here is the first blog of 2009.
Alok Mukherjee
Chair, Toronto Police Services Board
The Federal Government’s Anti-Crime Legislation and
A Public Health Approach to Community Safety
On February 26, Prime Minister Harper held a news conference in Vancouver during which he announced that his government would introduce tough new anti-crime legislation. According to the Prime Minister, this new legislation will prevent crime and make Canadian streets safer by cracking down on gangs and extending prison sentences.
The new legislation will make gang-related killings a first-degree murder offence and give mandatory minimum sentences for drive-by shootings. It will also provide additional protection for police and peace officers. The proposed legislation would create new offences for both aggravated assault against a police officer and assault with a weapon against a police officer. These crimes would each carry 14-year sentences.
Opinion is divided, both among politicians and criminologists, as to whether lengthier sentences increase public safety. Ujjal Dosanjh, the Liberal MP for Vancouver South and former public safety critic, said that while "tougher sentences are appropriate," the government must also focus on preventing people from getting involved in criminal activities in the first place. Similar views have been expressed by members of the other Opposition parties.
University of Ottawa criminologist Irwin Waller expressed the view that more jail time will not curb the kind of violence that the government wants to halt. "This is yet again a debate about penalties when it's very clear from looking south of the border that these penalties do not make a lot of difference to the number of people killed," Waller told The Canadian Press.
There is broad consensus that tough penalties and forceful enforcement of the Criminal Code alone do not make streets safer. These must go hand in hand with equally significant preventive measures. The Toronto Police Services Board has made this point repeatedly. The Board has invested considerable human and financial resources into preventive efforts.
And now, support for the importance of prevention comes from another source.
Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, speaks eloquently about the need for a public health approach to community safety in his annual report, “Chief Public Health Officer’s Report on the State of Public Health in Canada 2008.”
Dr. Butler-Jones says that the role of public health is “to work with individuals and communities to identify and address the factors affecting overall physical, mental, spiritual and emotional well-being.” According to him, the police have a very important role to play in promoting and ensuring public health, especially of the youth. He comments:
In addition to their public safety responsibilities, the police community has an important role to play in the public’s health, particularly with respect to youth. The police community is often our closest link to society’s most vulnerable and unhealthy population, including at-risk and street youth. When we look at some of the determinants of crime – poverty, family violence, inadequate schooling, social exclusion, inappropriate peer association, poor academic achievement, low self-esteem – what we are also looking at is the determinants of poor health. The notion of crime prevention through social development has been fully embraced by the police community and is an opportunity to focus on up-stream efforts such as youth mentorship and asset development, in an effort to prevent future potential crime.
According to Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, developmental assets “represent the relationships, opportunities and personal qualities that young people need to avoid risks and to thrive.” He asserts that “the more assets young people have, the less likely they are to engage in a wide range of high-risk behaviours (including drug and alcohol use) and the more likely they are to thrive. Assets have power for all young people, regardless of their gender, economic status, family situation or ethnicity.”
In terms of benefits from asset development among young people from an early age, Dr. Butler-Jones cites research showing that “$1 spent in the early years saves between $3 and $9 in future spending on the health and criminal justice systems, as well as social assistance.”
Dr. Butler-Jones cites several examples of programs initiated by Canada’s police community to do its share to promote asset development among youth. The benefits, as the Chief Public Health Officer points out, are enormous.
March 18, 2009
