We certainly do not represent the entire Mennonite constituency, but we represent some of the Mennonite constituency who would say that longer, harsher sentences remove people from community, and that makes it much more difficult to return people, and that escalates risks for community safety.
At the same time, we also work from a restorative justice approach that says that crime is the breaking of relationships. How do we engage communities and victims and offenders in repairing the harm of broken relationships? It's often easier to do time than it is to look the person in the face and come back out to the community and deal with the harm that has been caused, in the community sense, returning to families, returning to friends, returning to relationships that people in very many ways have horrendously destroyed.