Wednesday, August 4, 2010
By Norma Greenaway, Postmedia News
OTTAWA — Prosecutors and police will have enhanced powers to tackle prostitution, illegal gambling and drug trafficking activities by organized crime under new measures announced Wednesday by the Conservative government.
The new rules expand the list of what constitutes a serious crime in the Criminal Code — meaning offences punishable by five or more years in prison — to activities such as keeping a common bawdy house, keeping a gaming or betting house and exporting, importing or producing illegal drugs.
Although the new rules were welcomed by police organizations, opposition MPs said the government should have subjected the proposed changes to parliamentary scrutiny.
Defence lawyers described them as overkill, and said the government should carefully monitor their implementation.
"They are using a very blunt object, painting with a very broad brush," said David Anber, a criminal lawyer in Ottawa, arguing a lot of nickel-and-dime crooks with no links to organized crime could wind up being branded as serious offenders.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, who unveiled the changes at a news conference in Montreal, said the crimes being targeted are often "signature activities" of organized crime rings.
The new rules, quietly approved by cabinet last month, will allow police and prosecutors to more easily use tools such as wire taps while investigating those crimes, the Justice Department said in a statement.
They also will be able to seek stiffer sentences, block bail and parole eligibility and seize assets that are the proceeds of crime, it said.
The Criminal Code defines "criminal organization" as three or more people acting together in criminal ventures, and the federal government estimates 750 organized crime groups are operating across the country.
James Morton, a criminal lawyer in Toronto, said the new rules spread the net "way too wide" and their implementation must be closely monitored. "This is a case of overkill," he said.
He said, for example, three prostitutes living and receiving their clients in a shared apartment or three or more people playing poker for money could, if convicted, be branded as "serious offenders" and sentenced to five years in prison.
2 comments:
I doubt that three guys playing poker would do five years in jail. Murderers often do less.
I would tend to trust the judgement of a judge to throw it out even if some prosecutor was stupid enough to want to proceed with such a case.
They are trying to set up a snitch system like in the US, without the messy bother of passing RICO laws.
This is really to go after small time marijuana dealers and medical compassion clubs, which are part of the Tory 'culture war.' Nothing at all to do with crime.
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