Commentary
Spiking violent crimes committed by offenders recently released on bail have
finally convinced Canada’s Liberal government to re-examine bail policies. Will the government pursue true bail reforms or will they continue down the woke rabbit hole of justice policies that contributed to the crisis in the first place?
Decades of well-meaning but naive policies applied to offenders have created a system where it’s challenging to incarcerate some of the most violent repeat offenders. Hypersensitivity when it comes to the sentencing or remand of visible minorities has put people at risk as justices release dangerous offenders into the public despite presenting a high risk to re-offend.
While violent crimes have been rising in a slow boil, it was the murder of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala that brought the issue to a head for Canadians. Pierzchala’s accused killer had been released on bail despite having several assault and weapons charges. When releasing the offender on bail, the judge noted the indigenous background of the offender and how indigenous people are overrepresented in the correctional system.
Indigenous people are indeed heavily overrepresented in the correctional system. Because of that, we should be examining the root causes of why. We should look at cultural differences and challenges faced by indigenous people in Canada. We should be examining the entire reserve system and the Indian Act itself. These are things we can and should do to try and prevent crime. Once a violent crime has been committed though, the priority must shift to public safety over the causes of the offence. It doesn’t matter how or why the offender became violent. All that matters at that point is preventing the offender from harming someone again, and refusing bail is one of the ways to do that.
Judges in Canada have been instructed to follow the
Gladue principles when considering bail or sentencing offenders of indigenous descent. Those principles were based on a case in 1995 where an indigenous woman stabbed her boyfriend to death because she suspected he had cheated on her. Judges determined that lighter sentences should be offered whenever possible for indigenous offenders due to their overrepresentation in the correctional system.
While adult indigenous people only make up about 4 percent of Canada’s population, 32 percent of Canada’s prison population is of indigenous descent.
In 2001, indigenous people only comprised 17.5 percent of the prison population. Clearly, there is a serious problem to be addressed. With the Gladue Principles having been applied for nearly 30 years now though and with indigenous incarceration rates nearly doubling, isn’t it time to admit the imposition of the principles has been a failure?
The absurdity of racially selective application of justice isn’t just in the judicial system. In Vancouver, police have been instructed to take the
race of an offender into account when handcuffing them. You just can’t make this stuff up. While arresting somebody who may be violent or out of control, rather than considering their own or the public’s safety, police officers are expected to pause a second and take into account the race of the person they are handcuffing. A ridiculous, discriminatory, and potentially dangerous rule.
Canada’s weak bail system isn’t exclusively a racial problem. In Calgary recently, a man went on a stabbing spree injuring several people after a failed attempt to steal a purse. He had been recently
released on bail, and get this: Part of his bail conditions stipulated that he not to be in possession of a knife. He had a rather well-established history of stabbing people, yet was out on the streets—with tragic consequences. The man who shot and murdered Greg Pierzchala had been ordered not to have firearms. Repeat, violent offenders tend not to care if a judge has ordered them not to commit crimes when being released on bail.
When reading about arrests of violent criminals, the phrase “charged with breach of release conditions” has become almost ubiquitous within the news stories. They are rarely first-time offenders.
Bail is an important part of the justice system. Nobody is served well if a petty thief or a protest organizer is kept incarcerated for months while awaiting trial. Space and resources are limited. When the accused is a high-risk, violent offender, however, the consideration of public safety must be paramount.
The majority of
violent crimes are committed by a small minority of repeat offenders. Once we have identified this type of offender, bail shouldn’t be a consideration.
The government has an opportunity to fix Canada’s leaky and dangerous bail system. If they apply common sense, Canadians will be safer. If they continue to apply woke and light-handed recommendations for bail consideration, we will continue to see preventable, violent crimes rising as innocent citizens are injured or killed.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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