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Mandatory penalties show promise

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The Manitoba government has been advocating for the expanded use of mandatory minimum penalties of incarceration for firearms-related offences as part of a comprehensive strategy because they work.

We made this call for change at a meeting of the Canadian Professional Police Association in Winnipeg this past September and repeated it at the federal provincial territorial justice ministers meeting in Yukon in November.

Our call was to increase the minimum penalty for firearms smuggling and trafficking from one to four years to provide at least the same deterrent as robbery with a firearm. Let's not wait for the robbery.

We must deter the illegal firearms business in the first place.

In 1995, the former Liberal government strengthened the penalties for 20 firearms-related offences with mandatory minimum sentences.

One of the more widely-known penalties is the minimum four-year imprisonment for robbery with a firearm.

Since that change, this horribly victimizing crime has dropped nationwide by a whopping 36 per cent and U.S. jurisdictions have also seen a decline in crime following the introduction of mandatory minimum penalties. This trend must be at least partially attributable to changes in sentencing.

The new Conservative government agrees that expanded use of mandatory minimum penalties is warranted and, based on their election platforms, there appears to be opposition support for these initiatives.

Those who advocate for selectively expanding the use of mandatory minimums are backed by research. The 2002 Canadian study by criminology professors Thomas Gabor (University of Ottawa) and Nicole Crutcher (Carleton University) concludes when it comes to gun issues in Canada "mandatory minimum penalties for firearms offences show promise" and "in several American jurisdictions, similar laws have been accompanied by reductions in gun homicides and/or robberies." This view is also supported by David Risley, lead attorney for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force in the state of Illinois who says "many dealers who used to carry firearms, for example, now avoid doing so when they are selling drugs due to the high mandatory federal penalties when drugs and guns are mixed." In short, mandatory minimums go beyond sanctions. They help transform the Criminal Code into a crime-prevention tool while sending the message that Canada and its communities are not open to the illegal firearms business.

Despite support in Ottawa, there will be some resistance to change.

In particular, we should expect some offender support groups to use the application of more extremist mandatory minimums in the U.S. to stop Parliament from moving forward.

Most recently, federal U.S. minimums were the focus of scrutiny and criticism when a 55-year sentence was imposed against first-time drug offender Weldon Angelos because he also possessed firearms.

Several jurisdictions in the United States are responding by refining their minimum sentences to better target the most dangerous "kingpin" drug criminals.

It would be wrong to misconstrue the American examples as evidence that there is fault with mandatory minimum penalties in their entirety.

I have also heard opponents argue that mandatory minimums target disadvantaged communities but, as North End constituents of mine remind me, it's the firearm violence that targets disadvantaged communities. Stronger laws disproportionately protect them.

Our call for increased mandatory minimum penalties is part of a plan that includes a historic investment in policing, a successful firearms amnesty and a directive to Crown prosecutors to seek the stiffest sentences possible where offences involve the use of firearms.

We followed up with a multi-faceted commitment to enhance crime prevention efforts through Neighbourhoods Alive!, a world-class parenting skills initiative and Lighthouses for after-school programs on top of our social development investments.

Carefully targeted mandatory minimums must be one element of a balanced comprehensive effort that also embraces guidance, hope and opportunity to keep youth out of gangs before there is a victim and before there is an offender.

Solutions for greater public safety are not just found at the courthouse. They are also found in our families, neighbourhoods, and schools.

Gord Mackintosh is Attorney General for the Province of Manitoba.