Mr. Speaker, watching a repeat child molester walk out of a prison, unrepentant and unreformed, understandably drives people crazy with anger and betrayal.
Many Canadians want the justice system to do more with chronic pedophiles and rapists than simply wait for them to strike again. I agree.
My colleagues, the Minister of Justice and the Solicitor General of Canada, have responded to this genuine concern and recently announced new measures to deal with high risk offenders. Bill C-55 will toughen the sentencing and correction regime for those who pose a high risk of committing another crime. This is good legislation. This is responsive legislation.
These tough new restrictions on high risk, violent offenders will make Canadian homes and streets safer. The measures fulfil commitments made the red book as well as in the speech from the throne. The 1996 speech from the throne pledged that the government will focus resources on high risk offenders while developing innovative alternatives to incarceration for low risk offenders.
The following initiatives will strengthen the sentencing and correctional regime for those who present a high risk of violent reoffending, particularly sex offenders: a new long term offender designation that targets sex offenders and adds a period of supervision of up to 10 years following release from prison; strengthening the dangerous offender provisions in the Criminal Code and a new judicial restraint provision to permit controls, including electronic monitoring to be applied to individuals who pose a high risk of committing a serious personal injury offence.
Bill C-55 positively amends the Criminal Code and these changes have been welcomed by the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, a very sound endorsement.
The government is also committed to developing alternatives to incarceration for low risk offenders. This set of initiatives includes amendments to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to allow for earlier parole for offenders convicted of crimes which did not involve violence to support rehabilitation and return to the community.
Let us review some of these provisions in more detail, first the long term offender provisions. Under the proposed changes a new sentencing category to be called long term offender will be added to the Criminal Code. Long term offenders will be those convicted of sexual assault, sexual touching, sexual exploitation, indecent exposure, aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm.
This is a useful designation and is not necessarily the same designation as dangerous offender which is applied to those who have been convicted of repeatedly committing crimes of violence. It will target sex offenders who may be less violent and brutal than those designated dangerous offenders but are found to pose a considerable risk of reoffending.
The category will also include those offenders convicted of another crime such a break and enter with clear intent to commit sexual assault.
To better protect the community, offenders in this category will be subject to an additional period of supervision for up to 10 years after they have completed their parole and prison sentences.
This designation could be applied to first time offenders with psychological histories or other factors that indicate a possibility that they will likely repeat their crime; again, such as a pedophile convicted of assaulting a child. The long arm of the law will not miss such perpetrators.
The long term offender process will be similar to the existing dangerous offender application. Upon conviction the crown can ask for a thorough assessment of the offender's criminality and the risk he or she presents. On the basis of the assessment report the crown can then bring a dangerous offender or long term offender application.
If a long term offender finding is made, the judge will impose a prison sentence that suits the offence and add a period of long term supervision of up to 10 years to start when the incarceration period, including any parole, expires.
An effective program for rehabilitation is to gradually integrate offenders back into the community under controlled conditions. The long term offender designation by imposing on the offender an additional period of supervision in the community after the end of the regular sentence gives the offender a real opportunity to reintegrate without putting the community at risk, and that is very important.
Public safety is improved because Correctional Service Canada and the parole board can set stringent conditions on the offender, monitor the offender closely and pull the offender back in for any breach. An offender who breaches these conditions can be prosecuted and reincarcerated.
These safeguards address the fear that potentially dangerous criminals do the crime, finish their time and then are free to disappear back into the community without any monitoring.
I will also address the issue of dangerous offenders. The dangerous offender category will be improved by keeping such an individual in prison indefinitely. A judge will no longer have the discretion to sentence a dangerous offender to a fixed term. It will be an indeterminate term.
Currently a dangerous offender application must be made at trial. The crown will now have a window of six months after conviction to bring a dangerous offender application based on newly received information that may not have arisen at trial.
The process has also been streamlined. The number of psychiatrists required to testify at a hearing has been reduced from two to one. These are very positive and effective developments.
I would like to briefly touch on judicial restraint orders. The judicial restraint provision will be added to the Criminal Code and is another measure for the protection of the public. This procedure will focus on people who pose a risk of committing a serious personal injury offence. It can be applied to people who are not under a sentence as well as those who have completed their sentences.
Under this provision the attorney general would apply for a special hearing before a provincial court judge where there are reasonable grounds to believe that an individual is at high risk of committing a serious personal injury offence.
A judge will be able to impose general conditions such as keeping the peace and specific conditions appropriate to the kind of threat that could be posed by the individual. Two examples are staying away from places where children might congregate and staying away from an estranged spouse. As one of the conditions, the judge could order electronic monitoring in provinces where such programs exist. The judicial restraint would last for up to one year and could be renewed. A breach of conditions would constitute a separate criminal offence which could result in a jail sentence.
The judicial restraining order has been a topic of much conversation on the basis of its constitutionality, especially when it involves individuals who have no criminal record or charges pending. I well understand that this is an option to deal with stalkers and others who are difficult to convict.
As a member on the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, I look forward to examining this provision further. On one hand, it may be no different than court orders now being granted that restrict known sex offenders from hanging around schools and playgrounds. These orders are granted rarely and officials must prove the person constitutes a serious threat. While I have my concerns about this section I reserve judgment on this provision until further study is completed.
The low risk non-violent offender is also addressed. In tandem with these tough new controls on high risk violent offenders, the Liberal government has introduced initiatives to deal with low risk non-violent offenders.
The first priority of the government's justice agenda is the safety of Canadians. The Liberal approach balances tougher penalties and restrictions with necessary community based efforts at rehabilitation and prevention. In co-operation with other levels of government, the federal government will promote measures which include sentencing reforms and community diversion programs as alternatives for imprisonment of first time non-violent offenders at a low risk of reoffending.
The route this government has taken is to get tough on repeat violent offenders while finding alternative sentencing for low risk offenders. There is no doubt this is a move in the right direction.
The Liberal government's safe home, safe streets agenda draws a clear distinction between low risk and high risk offenders. This balanced approach will help to ensure an effective criminal justice system with the penalties appropriate to the gravity of the crimes.