As we have been hearing in the news and in parliament lately, the Canadian penal system may not be doing its job. Let’s look at some of the problems we are dealing with to see how this came about, and the pressures that keep us from making progress.
Democratic Principles
One of the precepts upon which the Western legal system is based is that it is worse to convict an innocent person than to free a guilty one. A democracy will let nine guilty parties go free so that one innocent doesn’t get convicted. An autocracy will let nine innocents go to jail to make sure they don’t let one guilty person free.
The result is that our system gives the guilty person a great deal of consideration, on the assumption that they may be innocent. The more conservative of our population and many victims of crime do not agree.
Punishment or Rehabilitation?
Also, penal authorities are caught between the two philosophies.
The ancient theory is that punishment reduces crime because of fear. This quite obviously doesn’t work, especially in crimes of violence, which are usually committed in states of emotional arousal or psychological stress, where the consequences are the last things on the perpetrator’s mind. However, there are many, especially in the right-leaning segments of the population, who have not progressed much beyond, “an eye for an eye,” as a basic principle.
The enlightened, modern approach is that criminals have been poorly socialized and poorly treated, and given a place of safety and proper training, most can be re-introduced into society. 2011 data shows that 23% of federal criminals re-offend. Our system is failing a quarter of criminals, but for humanitarian reasons we’re turning them loose.
What’s Missing?
So, prisons are frozen halfway between the two objectives. In fact, if we look at the difference between “Prison is a horrible place where you might be able to access some programs,” and “Prison is a safe place to get your act together, although the restrictions are not fun,” I think most people would suggest we’re far back towards the punitive slant. We are a humanitarian society with a punitive penal system.
The result is too much pressure to get people out of jail. Our solution is the parole system, which, depending on your point of view, is either doing great or failing completely.
Federal Parole Data
67% of parolees finish their time without incident.
22% are returned to prison for breach of parole, but no other laws are broken.
10% are returned for new, non-violent offences.
1% returned for new, violent offences.
Pointy-End Solutions Play to the Media
Policymakers are looking for procedures that will improve the lives of large numbers of people. They see the big picture: the greatest good for the greatest number. For them, the numbers above sound pretty good.
However, there are always the other folks: the few unfortunate victims of the 1% that re-offend. For them, the policy didn’t work, and they are the ones screaming the loudest that the system isn’t working. And unfortunately, “99% of parolees don’t commit violent crimes,” doesn’t compete in the media with “My son was murdered by someone out on parole.”
Protection of the Public
Then there’s the public safety issue. When you’re in jail you can’t harm innocent victims. For the many offenders who are violent because of mental health issues, a punitive penal system is useless. The only system that is 100% safe is no parole at all. But the parole system has no place to put people that don’t need punishment but do need help and a safe environment for themselves and for the public. And any move in that direction is opposed by a roar of protest that we’re getting “soft on criminals.”
The Bottom Line
As long as we continue to consider jail to be a place of punishment, there will always be pressure to remove people from incarceration. As long as the only alternative to jail is to be out on the street, we will continue to put people who are not ready into situations they can’t handle.
Our punitive penal system is not made to deal with most of the people that are incarcerated. We need greater selection of treatment centres to keep a larger number of people in places that will solve their problems. We also need a greatly expanded halfway-house system, where people like pedophiles, psychotics and psychopaths can live comfortably apart from the rest of society but be restricted in their contact with potential victims.
The only large-scale attempt at wholesale removal of convicts from society resulted in the country of Australia. Depending on your opinion of Australians, that seems to have worked out pretty well. Since we have no large islands available, I guess we’ll have to create our own solutions.