Recidivism is a problem! The courts have been serving as a revolving door for young offenders. Often, a young offender is back on the streets before the police have even completed the paperwork.

It’s true that many criminals have themselves been victims of crime. Many have been raised in dysfunctional home and many have been victims of sexual physical or mental abuse. It’s true that many of them do need healing from emotional wounds. However, two wrongs don’t make a right.  Every citizen—regardless of their past—must obey the laws of the land, must respect the rights and property of others and must control their anger, passion and greed. If we allow misguided compassion to shield violent criminals—even young persons—from the consequences of their crimes, we will quickly lose what civilization we still have left.

Canadian law must protect honest, hardworking Canadians and their families from theft, violence, vandalism and other unsafe behaviours.

CHP Canada’s criminal justice policies focus on restitution and public safety.

Non-violent criminals—those who commit theft and vandalism without harming or threatening others—should be made to repay those whose property has been stolen or damaged. As much as possible, the victims should be “made whole.” That’s what we mean by restitution.

Dangerous offenders—violent and sexual criminals, those who use guns in the commission of their crimes, and pedlars of drugs and child pornography—should be kept behind bars until they are no longer a threat to public safety.

Young Offenders that commit murder, rape, assault, armed robbery, etc. should all be raised to adult court—although there should be special rehabilitation facilities for these young offenders. Age  (or youth) should not be used as an excuse for unacceptable criminal behaviour.

Restitution and Public Safety

The CHP’s criminal justice policy rests on these two pillars of restitution and public safety. Up to two-thirds of our prison spaces are occupied by non-violent criminals; in most cases, these people should not be in jail. Instead, they should be working to support their families and to pay just restitution to their victims. Restitution has a profoundly rehabilitative effect on offenders. Truly dangerous offenders—violent and sexual criminals, those who use guns in the commission of their crimes, and pedlars of drugs and child pornography—should be kept behind bars until they are no longer a threat to public safety.

Revise the Young Offenders Act

The Young Offenders’ Act needs serious revision. One of those revisions would be to name offenders who commit ‘adult’ crimes—i.e., serious offences, including violent and sexual offences. Murder, rape, assault, armed robbery, etc. should all be raised to adult court—although there should be special rehabilitation facilities for these young offenders.

As with all violent offenders, we reject concurrent sentencing and the bargaining away of mandatory sentences for weapons offences.

The Young Offenders’ Act has created a situation in which adult criminals exploit juveniles to acts as their “cat’s-paws”, because the juveniles will receive sentences inappropriately lenient when compared to the severity of their offences. 

However, we do not agree that young offenders should “do adult time” in adult prisons; that would merely educate them to be more clever criminals. We urgently need a youth reformatory system that re-trains young offenders and rehabilitates them. They must also be made to pay restitution to their victims, which has been shown to have strong rehabilitative effect, because this brings them face-to-face with the real consequences of their actions.

No Votes for Prison Inmates

The court decision that gave prison inmates the right to vote in federal elections was a logical absurdity that amply illustrates why the CHP wants to make an election issue of the urgent need to restrain the judiciary and make the courts accountable for the constitutionality of their decisions.

Elections are held to choose the people to whom we delegate the citizens’ power of enacting and enforcing laws. Those we elect must have respect for the law. Therefore the people who elect them must also have respect for the law.

Convicted law-breakers, until they have been rehabilitated, have demonstrated that they lack respect for the law—and therefore they have no right to participate in making the laws that they refuse to obey.

Sentencing must be made more meaningful: no “double time” credit for time awaiting trial, no “volume discounts” for multiple offences, and no early release for violent and sexual criminals. Convicted felons should not be allowed to vote until their terms have been completed.

 

Updated: March 28, 2025