NEWS photo Terry Peters

of criminal
sentencin

Stephen T. Easton

Fraser Institute Columnist

. ONE of the most

important decisions in a
free society is the deci- .
sion about the circum-
stances in which a mem-
ber of that society is

‘deprived of freedom.

Criminal acts that call for
incarceration, deterrence, reui-
bution and rehabilitation initi-
ate this severest of sanctions.

We have a single criminal
code that for all Canadians
defines the conduct that puts
our personal freedom at risk.

The Criminal Code is one
of the few federal social pro-

in the provinces of B.C.,
Manitoba and New Brunswick
impossible to know, that the
setters of community stan-
dards are exclusively the
judges who do the sentencing.

[f you or Tare appalled by -
what \ve see in one court or
another, there is no possibilicy
of review. Who watches the
watctiers of community stan-
dards?.With the remarkable.
variation in apparent, standards ~

Ta lented troupe grams that is actually the same

. VANLEENA Dance Academy students displayed considerable skill in passing recent Royal Academy of Dancing — in all the provinces and territo-
.:_. ballet examinations. In no particular order: for pre-elementary, Bianca Pizzinato, Carmen Myronuk and Christina _ rics.
r Sutton; j elementary, Elodie Giflett, Norrie Zaplatnsky, Barbara Kottmeier, Sarah Harbottle and Casson Brown; pre- Yet sentencing patterns in.

. on intermediate, Katie Halloran, Lanie Townsend and = Canada are a mystery.
a a . Christie Saunders; and intermediate, Lanie Townsend, — Criminals who are convicted

aan . musene® BE awnene Samantha Waters and Christie Saunders. of the same statutory crimes
‘AR OU HAVING A PROBLEM

Fundraising for
an arts centre

Judy Smith
Contributing Writer

NO one knows better than Pat Patton how
hard it is to get an arts centre off the ground.

The founding president and scemingly tircless volunteer
of Nanaimo’s Harbourfront Centre Society, Patton told
West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce members of her
struggle to create an arts centre in her city.

And, she said, after nine years, how sweet it is to sec
Nanaimo’s spanking new arts centre finally raking shape and
sct to open next September. In the speech Tuesday morm-
ing, she told the gathering how her group PI pulled it off with
help trom the business community and the three levels of
government.

She said after initial feasibilicy studies, a lot of time was
spent jumping through a lot of hoops to secure $8.3 million
from the federal /provincial infrastructure program.

Then ‘she and the team of 30 volunteers developed
fundraising strategies and went to corporations and individ-
uals in the community for money.

Since$250,000 was the Jargest individual donation,
Parton had her work cut out for her.

“We had a lot of fundraising to do.” she laughed. “We
had a tremendous number of $1 900 Zuisations so it’s taken
us a fot of time.”

Two of the keys to this success story were having city
council on-side and the fact that planning and fundraising
meetings were fun.

“Nobody had a vested interest in seeing this happen and
everyone wanted to see the arts furthered,” she said.

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“Reflections” 20” x 28" watercolor

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face entirely different penalties
in front of different judges
and, more.surprisingly, face
systematically different penal-
ues in different provinces.

“Consider what happens.
when a person is convicted of
a serious (level 2) assault.

Of those sentenced to cus-
tody, the average number of
days ranges from 6} in
Newfoundiand to 200 in the
Territories!

among the larger
provinces Ontario comes in at
115 days, Quebec at 164 days
and Alberta at.161 days.
British Columbia, Manitoba
and New Brunswick don’t
report their sentencing.

Tam assured by both
Crown and defince counsels
thar they know who gives light
sentences and who gives heavy
ones for offenders convicted
on roughly the same sct of
facts.

Lawyers work to alter the
venue of the trial ac ccordingly
bur the public is nor privy to
that same information.

Even though we pay the
bills, we do not insist that our
political employees track sen-
tencing patterns. -

Why do we care? .

First, it is importante that
the public understand that
penalties reflect community
standards. But who sets the
standards, and what precisely
are the penalties?

Information about sentenc-
ing patterns is so obscure, or

of incarceration across the
provinces, someone sliould
step forward from the justice
systems to explain the varia-.
non and why it is a desirabic
feature of Canadian j justice
that the same crime. receive

. such different penalties.

Second, we, the taxpayers ~
and victims, need to know: ..
whether onc form of sentence
is appreciably more successful
than another. vo

Should justices nor be. :
expected to follow “best prac:
tice?, with Our interests at
heart? Ifw have Wide vari.

reasonable to expect thar some.
outcomes will be better than’

_ others. That is, the

less recidivism, mo
rence, greater rchabiliration
and imore. community satisfac:
tion with’ some sentencing pat
terns than with others:
Does it pay ‘to incarcerate
for longer periods? Should. :’
probation be uséd more fr
quently than fines or prison?
The evidence is that «
Canadians can’ spend different,
amounts of time in jail for the
same kind of crime depending

~on the judge they face and the’

province in.w hich they com:
mit the offence,

‘Even if we who are the vic-
tims of crime don’t care about
the outcomes, we already
know that the perpetrators do.

— Stephen T, Easton isin
adjunct scholar. with the Fra
Institute. :

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