Sadly there are truly evil people out there.
The fact is we don’t
understand them and we don’t particularly care to.
We understand only that they
must be dealt with.
How do you work towards a solution for a problem that you don’t even
care to understand? The statement above by Prime Minister Stephen Harper flies in the face of
those who have spent their careers trying to understand the causes,
characteristics, and solutions to sexual harm. During the 1990s, Canada was
considered a leader in research on sexual offending. Correctional Services
Canada commissioned numerous
research studies and implemented treatment practices in its institutions. Communities
of concerned citizens developed reintegration programs such as Circles of Support and
Accountability (CoSA), which have not only been proven successful in reducing
re-offence rates, but have also been replicated all over the world. While it is claimed that the
public maintains the opinion that "once a sex offender, always a
sex offender", research shows that they have lower re-offence rates than is generally believed,
especially when they have participated
in treatment.
Through
the Safe Streets and Communities Act
(Bill C-10), the Harper government has increased mandatory minimum sentences
for sex offences and has removed the opportunity of those convicted of sex
offences to receive a pardon even though research
by Public Safety Canada shows that the latter was an unnecessary measure in
terms of making our communities safer. The federal government has now tabled
the Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act (Bill C-26), which seeks to make amendments to the Criminal Code
of Canada, including, increasing mandatory minimum sentences for sex offences
against children and enacting a publicly accessible sex offender database.
Increasing
mandatory minimum sentences for sexual offences may seem, at first glance, to
benefit victims and make our communities safer. That, however, is not the case.
More than 90% of those incarcerated re-join our communities. Will longer
sentences magically transform them into better neighbours, friends or family
members? Or will they become more institutionalized, experience more trauma, and
come out more broken than when they went in? We may believe that while they are
incarcerated these individuals will take part in treatment and get better. That
is not always the case. Institutional programming is not available to all
prisoners. Additionally, professionals in the field and persons in conflict with the law who the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project has been in touch with note that cuts to psychological services have resulted in programs
being delivered by prison officers instead of by psychologists.
A
publicly accessible sex offender registry, another amendment proposed by Bill
C-26, will make our communities less, not more safe. We already have the National
Sex Offender Registry and provincial
registries, neither of which are publicly accessible. While the
effectiveness of these non-public registries has been criticized, police use these as investigative tools. However, these measures are only as
good as the information they contain. Because
these registries are not public, their compliance rates are very high (in
Ontario, the rate is 97%). This
means that almost all persons on the registry regularly update
their residence and work addresses and any other identifying information with
the police. Compare that with the rates of approximately 50% in U.S.
jurisdictions where registries are public. In those areas, up to half of those convicted of sexual harm who are required to be on the registry are missing, their
whereabouts unknown to police services. Going underground means that these
people are less likely to access treatment services, seek and maintain
employment, and remain close to social supports – all factors that decrease
one’s risk of re-offending.
We
already have numerous measures for the supervision and control of those who are
convicted of sexual offences: the
dangerous offender designation, long-term
supervision order, peace
bond (s.810 orders), community
notification and the abovementioned sex offender registries. These mechanisms, in conjunction with community-based treatment (e.g. those offered
at the Royal
Ottawa Hospital) and low-cost but effective reintegration services (e.g. CoSA) offer a myriad of interventions for those who have been convicted of
sexual offences. Longer sentences and a publicly accessible registry will not help victims come forward. On the contrary, considering that
most perpetrators are known to the victim – either as family members or
friends/acquaintances – these measures will deter victims from seeking the help
of police. Would you want your family name on a publicly accessible registry?
Those
who work with survivors of criminalized harm question the government’s approach and are in support of initiatives like CoSA. Understanding the difference between policies based on fear and stereotypes and
those based on sound research and practices allows us to put our resources
where they can truly be effective. When the annual cost of incarcerating one
male prisoner is $117 788,
does keeping people in prison longer make any sense?
If
this government is truly concerned with victims’ rights and community safety,
it would fund programs such as Circles of Support and Accountability, whose
effectiveness has been proven. Instead, many CoSA sites, such as the one in
Ottawa, is in danger
of closing its doors and the people it serves will be left without the daily support and oversight its volunteers and staff
provide.
BACK TO THE MARCH 2015 EDITION OF TCPC-CANADA
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