Published Articles
Get Prolific Offenders Off the Street (in Business Examiner)
June 04, 2009
Issues of crime and public safety are a significant concern for the business community. Though official crime stats are on the decline, the business community has long been registering concern about the accuracy of those stats. We have been calling for the use of crime victimization counts as a more accurate measure of the occurrence of crime, particularly property crime. We know that many incidents of property crime do not get reported to police because property owners are frustrated with seeing the person who blatantly robbed or damaged their property back on the street only days later. They can’t be bothered with going through the process for apparently little effect. Therefore the incidents are not counted in the statistics, which in turn skews the official crime statistics in a downward direction.
Prolific offenders do not receive escalating sentences and in many cases receive reduced sentences as the number of offences increases. The Canadian justice system is plagued by these repeat offenders who take an inordinate amount of both enforcement and legal resources. The revolving door of the justice system as it applies to repeat offenders exacerbates that problem. A reduction in the number of appearances by repeat offenders would greatly reduce the real crime rate and burden on our justice system.
A recent academic report examining the sentencing patterns in BC showed that a greater percentage of British Columbians are concerned with lenient sentencing practices in their province than are citizens in other provinces (74% compared to 69%). Its findings also highlight that while 41% of convicted drug offenders in BC are incarcerated compared to 39% in Canada, only 50% of those receive sentences of more than 3 months (Canadian average excluding BC is 71%) and only 20% get more than 6 month sentences (compared to the Canadian average of 58% excluding BC).
The report, however, does not examine how property crime is treated and whether repeat offenders receive increasing sentences. That work was done by the Vancouver Police Department. The VPD found that for the majority of chronic property offenders, custody sentences decrease after their 30th conviction, averaging just 25 days per conviction. Their report also shows that offenders themselves indicate they can victimize up to 4000 individuals or businesses per year, most often in support of their drug addiction. Due to very short sentences, the offenders are back on the street in short order, still in the grips of their addiction, and simply continue on with committing crimes to access resources to fund their habit.
Persons who engage in repeat offences such as for property crime should be dealt with more seriously by the law. While a light sentence may be reflective of the particular incident in front of the courts, it does not reflect the ongoing harm to the community at large and the volume of property affected. It does not in any way cause the offender to stop their behaviour upon release as the sentence length does not allow adequate time for drug treatment with the goal of withdrawal and changed behaviour. The goal is no addiction, no need to steal.
In the long run, it is the community who suffers the harms of repeat offenders while offenders themselves are relatively unaffected. We need the judiciary to take the issue of property crime and harm to society more seriously. We need sentences for prolific offenders that better reflect their criminal history and the collective harm they have done to the community.
Articles - 2010
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ADS is Positive for BC Tourism (in Business Vancouver Island) (August 11, 2010)
Regional Issues Require Regional Decision Making (in Business Examiner) (July 28, 2010)
Task Force Only a First Step (in Business Vancouver Island) (July 07, 2010)
Paying for the Bridge (in Business Examiner) (June 30, 2010)
Shoulder to Shoulder with Tourism (in Business Vancouver Island) (June 17, 2010)
What is the Cost of Not Building the Marina? (in Business Examiner) (June 01, 2010)
Business Vote is Complicated (in Business Vancouver Island) (May 17, 2010)
Keep an Eye on Tax Spending (in Business Vancouver Island) (April 08, 2010)
Calling for Police Amalgamation (in Business Examiner) (March 24, 2010)
Health, Police Connected (in Business Vancouver Island) (March 11, 2010)
Tourism Benefits of the Games Needing Our Support (in Business Examiner) (March 01, 2010)
Listen to the Tax Canary (in Business Vancovuer Island) (February 15, 2010)
Education and Sewage (in Times Colonist and Blackpress, Letters) (January 29, 2010)
Bay Street Bridge Closure a Wake Up Call (in Business Examiner) (January 27, 2010)
Improving Province's Productivity (in Business Vancouver Island) (January 15, 2010)
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Articles - 2009 
Municipalities Need to Tighten their Belts (December 10, 2009)
What About the Displaced Traffic? (in Business Examiner) (November 27, 2009)
The Local TV/Cable Battle (in Business Vancouver Island) (November 12, 2009)
Budgetary Mitigation Efforts for HST (in Business Examiner) (October 26, 2009)
Why we are Canada's Best Place to Live (in Outlook 2010 in the Times Colonist) (October 17, 2009)
Carving a Place on the Canadian Stage (in Business Vancouver Island) (October 07, 2009)
Budget Deficits and Health of the Community (in Business Examiner) (September 30, 2009)
Keeping the Lens on Crime and Public Safety (in Business Vancouver Island) (September 18, 2009)
HST from Three Perspectives (in Business Examiner) (August 28, 2009)
The Ups and Downs of Tourism (in Business Vancouver Island) (August 10, 2009)
Bar Watch Program Shows Results (August 06, 2009)
Experience Vancouver Island (in Business Vancouver Island) (July 08, 2009)
Dealing with Downtown Drunkeness (in Business Examiner) (July 06, 2009)
TV Playing Field Must be Even too (in Business Vancouver Island) (June 15, 2009)
Get Prolific Offenders Off the Street (in Business Examiner) (June 04, 2009)
Mico-firms in Need of Capital Too (in Business Vancouver Island) (May 11, 2009)
Small Business Realities on Raising Minimum Wage (in Business Examiner) (May 04, 2009)
Letter to the Editor - Johnson St. Bridge (April 22, 2009)
Changes Needed for Film Biz (in Business Vancouver Island) (April 08, 2009)
Keeping Tax Increases Sustainable (in Business Examiner) (April 06, 2009)
Keeping Cities Affordable (in Business Vancouver Island) (March 13, 2009)
Preserving Heritage at What Cost? (in Business Examiner) (March 02, 2009)
Deficit Budgets - Good? (in Business Vancouver Island) (February 11, 2009)
Getting Organized for Budget Investments (in Business Examiner) (January 19, 2009)
The 2009 Budget Slalom (in Business Vancouver Island) (January 11, 2009)
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