Chris Selley is quite right -- Canada had a lower crime rate in the 1960s. I should have said something like "Canada is safer now than it has been for nearly 40 years". Of course, what's interesting is why the crime rate was so much lower in the 60s? Was it a common shared morality? Or the economy? Or was much crime unreported (eg spousal abuse, residential schools, impaired driving). Regardless, I was wrong and that's a fact!
"Also in the Star, James Morton argues very reasonably that sending people to prison for purposes of rehabilitating them and deterring other criminals simply doesn't work. That isn't news to us, nor is the fact that politicians in Ottawa simply don't give a damn about what works and what doesn't, so long as they're seen to be "tough on crime." But Morton kind of loses the plot when he talks about our declining crime rates. Canada is not "safer than ever," as he says. Our violent crime rate, for example, remains much higher than it was in the 1960s."
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/01/04/chris-selley-s-full-pundit-happy-new-year-now-who-s-ready-for-an-election.aspx
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
416 225 2777
www.jmortonmusings.blogspot.com
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