Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear the member say that he would actually like to see things based on fact, because that is what I am doing. I am quoting fact, not rhetoric.
This is from the Bureau of Justice statistics in the United States. It says that of the ten states with the highest number of total inmates per 100,000 residents in 2003, nine were red. Of the ten states with the most female inmates per 100,000 residents in 2003, all were red. According to these very same statistics, it was the red states that had the highest incidence of crime, so their being tough on crime by putting people in jail was not solving the issue.
I would argue that part of the problem, and the corrections people themselves will say this, is that we need more data in Canada. We need more studies, for example, on how conditional sentencing impacts on aboriginal people. We need to know what the rate of recidivism is. We need to know when people are given access to a rehabilitation and treatment program, whether or not it shortens the length of time people are in prison and increases the length of time that people are able to stay in the community and perhaps contribute to a more productive society.
I certainly would be pleased to provide the member with the statistics from the Bureau of Justice in the United States.