Madam Speaker, I do not believe so.
The Department of Justice study that I quoted from concluded that it led to an increase in the number of people entering prison, but that the increase was variable and not meaningful. However, there was no impact on driving crime rates down.
In the United States, the proliferation of minimum sentences has resulted in that country having the highest incarceration rate in the world. With 767 prisoners per 100,000 citizens, it is worse than Russia. We have 116 and Japan has 56. It is clear that minimum sentences have driven the prison population up tremendously.
Does my colleague feel safer in the United States?