The Calgary Herald reports:
OTTAWA — The federal government is again targeting child predators with new legislation in the fall that will impose harsher sentences for child pornographers and pedophiles.
The new Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act will include mandatory minimum and maximum sentences, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Thursday, while offering few details about what those minimum and maximum penalties will be.
“Once the bill has passed, the measures it contains will represent the most comprehensive legislation to combat sex crimes against children ever enacted in this country,” Harper said at a news conference in Toronto.
“We are doing this because every victim matters, because every child matters.”
Under the proposed legislation, which will be tabled after Parliament resumes in October, those convicted on multiple counts will have to serve their sentences consecutively — “one prison sentence after the other, particularly for offenders that have victimized multiple children,” Harper said, noting 40 per cent of cases involve four or more charges.
The new bill will also include provisions that could compel the spouse of an accused person to testify against their partner in court.
There will also be increased penalties for those who violate their parole conditions and provisions to ensure that any crime committed while on parole or statutory release would become a mandatory factor during sentencing.
“As a father, frankly I think I speak for almost everyone, I cannot even begin to comprehend why those who sexually pray on children do the heinous things that they do, but sadly there are truly evil people out there,” Harper said, noting sex crimes against young people are “sadly” on the rise and that more than half of all reported sex assaults in Canada now involve children.
“The fact is we don’t understand them and we don’t particularly care to. We understand only that they must be dealt with. We must deal with them to protect our children.”
Mandatory minimum penalties now range from 30 days to five years depending on the crime and its severity. Maximum penalties range from two to 14 years, though aggravated sexual assault against a child could carry a sentence of life in prison.
But last December, former NHL star Theo Fleury (http://northwoodssaveachild.blogspot.ca/2013/08/child-sexual-abuse-is-biggest-epidemic_20.html) lashed out against the government, saying Canada remained a “Disneyland for pedophiles” and that the laws were still too weak.
He called for mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years in prison for each count of sexual abuse, to be served consecutively. He also called for legal repercussions for anyone who fails to report cases of sex abuse.
Himself a victim of abuse at the hands of disgraced hockey coach Graham James when he played for him in the 1980s, Fleury has since become an outspoken advocate for victims of child sex crimes.
The bill, however, will likely face some criticism.
Liberal justice critic Sean Casey said mandatory minimums tend to raise red flags.
“The evidence is quite clear, mandatory minimums don’t deter crime and they contribute to overcrowding,” he said.
“My immediate reaction is let’s wait and see the details. If there’s mandatory minimums, that will certainly be one element we’ll likely stand against as we have consistently.”
Consecutive sentences could have the same overcrowding effect, he said, adding mandating them also presumes judges can’t do their jobs.
You don't get it, Mr Casey, it's not about deterring. Child molesters can't be deterred - they are driven by obsession if not demonic possession. It's about keeping these creeps off the streets and away from our children.
“We feel that judges are quite capable of assessing the evidence and exercising their discretion based on what they see and hear and their ability to make sentences consecutive or concurrent is part and parcel of that discretion,” he said.
Obviously, Mr Casey, if judges were capable of exercising their discretion properly, we wouldn't have the RCMP warning us about child abusers being released from prison and likely to re-offend. It happens all the time.
Canada has a minimum sentencing policy, which, combined with concurrent sentences and double credit for time served before sentencing, means a serial child sex abuser can be sentenced to 1 year for each child he abused, but only have to serve one one year sentence. And if he were in jail for 3 months before sentencing he would be credited with having served 6 months. He would then be eligible for parole, the day after going to prison.
Concurrent sentences mean that the pervert who abuses 10 children gets off free for 9 of those children. They count for nothing!
Good move, Mr Harper.
The NDP did not respond to a request for comment.
While the United States recently signaled its intent to move away from mandatory minimums and harsh sentences that have made the country’s prison system unmanageable, the Conservative government maintains it’s on the right track and that previous mandatory minimums did not result in the exploding prison populations many predicted.
OTTAWA — The federal government is again targeting child predators with new legislation in the fall that will impose harsher sentences for child pornographers and pedophiles.
The new Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act will include mandatory minimum and maximum sentences, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Thursday, while offering few details about what those minimum and maximum penalties will be.
“Once the bill has passed, the measures it contains will represent the most comprehensive legislation to combat sex crimes against children ever enacted in this country,” Harper said at a news conference in Toronto.
“We are doing this because every victim matters, because every child matters.”
Under the proposed legislation, which will be tabled after Parliament resumes in October, those convicted on multiple counts will have to serve their sentences consecutively — “one prison sentence after the other, particularly for offenders that have victimized multiple children,” Harper said, noting 40 per cent of cases involve four or more charges.
The new bill will also include provisions that could compel the spouse of an accused person to testify against their partner in court.
There will also be increased penalties for those who violate their parole conditions and provisions to ensure that any crime committed while on parole or statutory release would become a mandatory factor during sentencing.
“As a father, frankly I think I speak for almost everyone, I cannot even begin to comprehend why those who sexually pray on children do the heinous things that they do, but sadly there are truly evil people out there,” Harper said, noting sex crimes against young people are “sadly” on the rise and that more than half of all reported sex assaults in Canada now involve children.
“The fact is we don’t understand them and we don’t particularly care to. We understand only that they must be dealt with. We must deal with them to protect our children.”
Mandatory minimum penalties now range from 30 days to five years depending on the crime and its severity. Maximum penalties range from two to 14 years, though aggravated sexual assault against a child could carry a sentence of life in prison.
But last December, former NHL star Theo Fleury (http://northwoodssaveachild.blogspot.ca/2013/08/child-sexual-abuse-is-biggest-epidemic_20.html) lashed out against the government, saying Canada remained a “Disneyland for pedophiles” and that the laws were still too weak.
He called for mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years in prison for each count of sexual abuse, to be served consecutively. He also called for legal repercussions for anyone who fails to report cases of sex abuse.
Himself a victim of abuse at the hands of disgraced hockey coach Graham James when he played for him in the 1980s, Fleury has since become an outspoken advocate for victims of child sex crimes.
The bill, however, will likely face some criticism.
Liberal justice critic Sean Casey said mandatory minimums tend to raise red flags.
“The evidence is quite clear, mandatory minimums don’t deter crime and they contribute to overcrowding,” he said.
“My immediate reaction is let’s wait and see the details. If there’s mandatory minimums, that will certainly be one element we’ll likely stand against as we have consistently.”
Consecutive sentences could have the same overcrowding effect, he said, adding mandating them also presumes judges can’t do their jobs.
You don't get it, Mr Casey, it's not about deterring. Child molesters can't be deterred - they are driven by obsession if not demonic possession. It's about keeping these creeps off the streets and away from our children.
“We feel that judges are quite capable of assessing the evidence and exercising their discretion based on what they see and hear and their ability to make sentences consecutive or concurrent is part and parcel of that discretion,” he said.
Obviously, Mr Casey, if judges were capable of exercising their discretion properly, we wouldn't have the RCMP warning us about child abusers being released from prison and likely to re-offend. It happens all the time.
Canada has a minimum sentencing policy, which, combined with concurrent sentences and double credit for time served before sentencing, means a serial child sex abuser can be sentenced to 1 year for each child he abused, but only have to serve one one year sentence. And if he were in jail for 3 months before sentencing he would be credited with having served 6 months. He would then be eligible for parole, the day after going to prison.
Concurrent sentences mean that the pervert who abuses 10 children gets off free for 9 of those children. They count for nothing!
Good move, Mr Harper.
The NDP did not respond to a request for comment.
While the United States recently signaled its intent to move away from mandatory minimums and harsh sentences that have made the country’s prison system unmanageable, the Conservative government maintains it’s on the right track and that previous mandatory minimums did not result in the exploding prison populations many predicted.
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