The story is a bit unfair as it implies the change is purely political -- it may be genuine. My own thinking on sentencing has changed, and continues to change.
Nevertheless, I remain unconvinced that mandatory sentences work for many crimes but for some, largely economic enterprise crimes (frauds, environmental spoliation, counterfeit drugs etc), they might work. Study is needed to see what is effective.
All that said, an interesting story:
http://tiny.cc/ugoB6
Janice Tibbetts,
Canwest News Service
Monday, Feb. 1, 2010
OTTAWA -- Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, one of Canada's most vocal champions of fixed minimum prison sentences, once opposed the idea of removing discretion for judges to sentence as they see fit.
As a Tory backbencher in 1988, Mr. Nicholson was vice-chairman of a parliamentary committee that rejected the expansion of automatic incarceration, asserting that it doesn't work, overcrowds jails and takes too hefty of a social and financial toll.
James Morton
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