OTTAWA --
The Harper government is embracing tough-on-crime policies even as the United States backs away from similar approaches that have produced record levels of incarceration, huge taxpayer costs and racialized prisons, says an American expert on sentencing policy. [...]The Harper government pushed (a) bill through even though crime rates in Canada have been falling steadily since the early '90s and are now at their lowest level in 25 years. [...] In the United States, three-strike laws and widespread use of mandatory minimum sentences have resulted in a record 2.3 million people behind bars -- 700,000 more than China, which has four times the population.Regina Leader-PostChina, a nation of over 1 billion persons, has 1.6 million individuals in jail while the United States with 1/4 the population of China has 2.3 million in jail! When you add the costs of incarcerating such a large number plus the cost of the failed Iraqi invasion, you can see why the American economy is going down the dumper.
Harper has been in thrall to John Howard and George Bush.
Howard was defeated in the last Australian election.
Bush has the worst approval ratings ever for a US president.
Harper's ratings are nearing those of Mulroney.
You think he'd read the signs better, but he's too busy to pay attention to the warning signs.
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When you are in an accident, everythings seems to happen in slow motion.
For Harper's disaster, the weeks must positively drag on.
Posted by Anonymous | 10:43 am, May 05, 2008
Ummm, because the Liberals are protecting the Conservatives and desire above all else to insure that Harper's Conservatives serve a full term until the 2009 election.
Posted by tdwebste | 11:19 am, May 05, 2008
I think it's because those prisons down in the State are big money makers for some. Nevermind the drain on the people and the state. If there's a buck to made, then push ahead, and damn the consequences.
Posted by Anonymous | 11:29 am, May 05, 2008
Now that the US has proven that that the policy is a failure, I'm not surprised that the Head Harpy is following suit.
Posted by TomCat | 12:38 pm, May 05, 2008
It's seems like it has been like this all my life. We got close a couple of times with the Liberals. Then we fall back to this. I think with Harper and Day it is just the "superior moral" complex of the evangelical and old reform movements. Same with the two abortion modifications bills. Well maybe just for Day, Harper might think that it is just good politicking for his base.
Posted by WILLY | 3:34 pm, May 05, 2008