If I could start, I'd like to respond to each of those.
Obviously, I see a role for the criminal justice system when somebody has done a serious crime. I have no difficulty. It seems to me that we have to realize that the overall criminal justice system is a very important institution. It seems to me that what we are doing with the criminal justice system, when somebody has committed a crime, is we are looking for a fair way of apprehending and punishing that person. I have no problems whatsoever in doing that, and I believe very strongly that the sentences handed down should be proportionate to the harm that's done.
What I think we should realize, though, is that having the criminal justice system and criminalizing certain behaviours is important. The possibility that somebody is apprehended is important. The size of the sentence that's handed down appears from an enormous amount of research not to affect the levels of crime. So what we're talking about is not in any sense to say that the criminal justice system shouldn't exist, or that we shouldn't punish people, or that when they do serious things, we shouldn't punish them severely. What we're saying is don't look to changing the sentencing structure in the Criminal Code as a good way of solving the problem of crime.
The second thing I would like to do is talk about Steven Levitt. In the formal brief that's before you and that has been translated, I quote the responses Steven Levitt gave to the fact that he suppressed data. I quote it in its complete form. It's there available to you. So is his complete article. I'd invite you to read that as well as the other responses to it.
The difficulty, in any case, is that my argument is that if everything hinges on a favourable assessment of Steven Levitt's article, we're barking up the wrong tree. What we should be looking at is the overall impact of this kind of sentencing regime, and that impact has been studied in a number of places.
The final point I want to make is that everything has costs. I agree that there are other ways, and that this could be seen as part of the mix. But what we have to say is whether this is a good investment and the best investment in terms of the impact it's going to have on public safety. I think the evidence is in that it will not be.