Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today on this bill. As my presentation will show in detail, two conceptions of justice are clashing with each other. This will be made clear in concrete terms.
On the one hand, there is the tendency that has developed over a number of years to promote rehabilitation and allow individuals who have made mistakes to be judged accordingly. Ultimately, they are given a chance to change their ways and re-enter society.
On the other hand, there is the view that harsher sentences would deter crime. However, studies show that that approach does not work. It is copied from a model imported from the United States. One need only look at the results in the United States, where they make an excessive use of imprisonment. At the end of the day, incarceration is very expensive, does not solve the rehabilitation issue and fails to curb crime. In Quebec and Canada, crime is down.
With Bill C-9, the government is hoping to eliminate conditional sentencing, particularly for sentences of ten years or more. In such cases, the judge will no longer have the discretionary power to decide whether a conditional sentence is appropriate or not. Judges are there to make a judgment of conviction, but they also have to determine the most appropriate sentence. So far, they have had that leeway and they have used it correctly.
The government is proposing that this leeway be taken away from the judges. I believe that judges should have that possibility. For example, many offences in the Criminal Code carry a sentence of imprisonment of ten years or more, requiring the prosecutor to take criminal action. I will list a few for which I find the position taken in the bill absurd.
First, there is theft over $5,000. Today, a young person may commit such a crime but may not be sent automatically to prison, to crime school, for 10 years. If he is sent to prison, then he may commit more serious thefts when he is released, because he will have been in contact with inmates for 10 years. Under the circumstances, the judge could decide that there are other solutions. Alternate solutions have been used particularly for minors and have helped correct behaviour. Often, we learn more from people who, in therapy, show us the negative impact of what we have done. In the end, it is possible to correct our behaviour.
There is also mail theft. Imagine that a few young people aged 19 or 20 commit this offence. Today, they should be aware of their responsibility. Sending them to prison automatically, with no possibility of a conditional sentence and without allowing the judge to take the circumstances into account, may not be the best solution. In this situation, the judge should clearly be given this flexibility.
Judges are skilled at what they do and have training they can augment with specific courses. They have this responsibility in our society. In my opinion, we have to give them the necessary latitude to do their jobs, especially since criminologists have long agreed that stricter sentences do not reduce the number of offences. There are hardened criminals, but there are also occasional criminals, people who exercise poor judgment and make the wrong decision in a given situation. Longer sentences do not lead to less wrongdoing.
We need to take a more realistic attitude, set aside the ideological approach and look at the results. The results show that, in real life, giving judges the option of imposing conditional sentences gives them the opportunity to facilitate rehabilitation. It is important to move in this direction.
Cost is another important factor. Many more people will be incarcerated, which will generate additional costs. In the end, in addition to the social consequences and the missed opportunities for rehabilitation, this will mean needless extra costs in terms of results. In my opinion, this is another reason why the government should go back to the drawing board.
Nonetheless, the bill as presented is not acceptable.
I want to come back to other examples that currently call for sentences of 10 years or more and that, if this bill is passed, will no longer be automatically eligible for conditional sentencing. I am talking about the use of forged passports, among other things. Fraudulent use of passports is a serious offence. However, let us say a 20-year-old living near the border has a twin brother who decides on a whim to borrow his passport. Under current legislation, the judge is able to weigh the seriousness of the action and determine the best punishment. If we pass this bill, that person will automatically have to serve 10 years in prison. I find this is excessive and that it needs to be corrected.
In reality, since 2000, conditional sentences have become longer. Judges have considered the reality and the application conditions have become stricter. People have learned to live with the possibility of conditional sentencing and the conditions to be met are very clearly expressed. This ensures that there is no risk to the people involved in the crime for which the person was convicted. It also ensures that the offender is not put in a situation that promotes this. This type of situation is prevented by increasing the number of house arrests.
Let us not focus on exceptions that unfortunately make the headlines. At the end of the day, we have to look at the big picture. In our society, rehabilitation as a whole has been positive and it must continue that way. We must not send the message that we are now changing direction and that rehabilitation no longer interests us by handing down sentences and sending people to prison. If we did we would have to accept the fact that they come out still criminalized or maybe even more so than they were before.
In certain cases the judge might find that the maximum sentence absolutely applies. Being allowed to use conditional sentencing does not preclude the possibility for a judge to decide that the appropriate sentence is truly the maximum sentence under law. This possibility still exists. Nonetheless, this bill will not give the judge any flexibility on the other end of the spectrum when a situation warrants a conditional sentence. This has been eliminated and I find that inappropriate.
When judges hand down a sentence of imprisonment, they take into account the degree of responsibility of the offender and the seriousness of the offence. That is one of the most distinctive aspects of a judge's work: not only do they have to decide if the accused is guilty or not, but they must also determine which sentence is the most appropriate in that case. Those who are only aware of the offence and the sentence often do not realize that there are other important factors that must be taken into account in the sentencing process.
We are in a situation where, although the intentions are good, the government is saying that it has to be as strict as possible and indicate clearly that maximum sentences will be handed down and that there will be no conditional sentences. It believes that this will deter people from committing crimes.
However, according to various studies and surveys on this subject, this is not how it is in real life. In fact, providing for harsher sentences has no influence on the commission of a crime. People often are not aware of the penalties. In the final analysis, the focus needs to be on rehabilitation. It is not about being too lenient; sentences have to be sufficiently harsh. Moreover, judges have to follow each case closely, as they already do, and analyze the situation.
The solution proposed by the government today is inadequate and will lead to results that we will have to correct 10 years down the road because crime will have increased, not decreased.