Wednesday, March 25, 2009

POLICY: Rezac and Park tell Ottawa MP's, "Its been open season on victims in Canada too long."

Rezac and Park testifying, House of Commons Justice Committee










Rezac briefs Justice Minister Jim Nicolson in Ottawa on Vancouver crime issues. Subsequent sentences drop for chronic offenders! 













A KEY ISSUE: The serious situation with judges' sentencing in Vancouver: Chronic offenders sentences actually go down for subsequent offenses!  Vancouver Police Department 2008
Rezac and Park also met with government BC Caucus, opposition Members of Parliament, the Senate, the Chief Statistician of Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce about measures needed to reduce the high incidence of crime in Canada. 
The delegation focused on the need to deal more appropriately with chronic offenders, who account for much of the unacceptably high incidence of violent crime in Canada.  "Violent crime is not new to Canada,” said Darcy Rezac, “but the Tsunami of violent crime and gang warfare in BC underscores the long-standing inability of the justice system to prevent and deal with serious crime. We need our parliamentarians to put politics aside and address the threat to the public with the urgency it deserves.” 2.7 million Canadians were victims of violent crime in the last Statistics Canada victims survey in 2004. The City of Vancouver alone has 379 known “super chronic” criminals on the loose--one with 190 convictions who is not in jail. Sentences for these chronic offenders actually decrease with the number of convictions. The average sentence for a first conviction is 101 days. For the 35th crime, the sentence drops to 25 days. “It makes no sense. It would be difficult to find another country in the world that releases more chronic criminals back into society again and again to create more and more victims.” said Rezac. “It has been open season on victims in Canada for too long”, said Rezac. See complete release at The Vancouver Board of Trade  Media calls: Darcy Rezac, 604 641-1255, or Terry Hadley, 604 641-1271
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2 comments:

Dom said...

This was an incredibly successful mission for The Board of Trade, keep on it!

DarcyRezac said...

Thanks, Dom, it was indeed...Justice Committee members were astounded at this chart...we got it on the government's radar screen. Now the trick is to make it conventional wisdom. Great work by Chief Constable Jim Chu and his staff for this research, The Board is happy to help him spread the word. What we are looking for is mandatory escalating sentences for chronic offenders...there is a man on the loose in Vancouver, as we speak with 190 convictions....hundreds with more than 30 convictions. If these people were in jail, getting treated for their addictions or other problems, then at least victims would be free from having them steal our cars, break into our homes and traumatize our loved ones. Time for a paradigm shift...the 'Just Society" experiment from the 70's has been great for criminals, but hell for victims...all 2.7 million per year from violent crime. It truly was the Emporer's new justice system...well, the Emperor has no clothes! Time to bell this puppy's cat..lets give victims a chance for a change. How is that for a concept for the new millenium?