Brian Stewart on American prison nation

    Brian Stewart is a Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Stewart has a long history as a senior reporter covering conflicts around the globe for about four decades now. In a recent CBC article he discusses the high rates of incarceration in the U.S. Finally, he notes that the Canadian government with a Conservative majority under Stephen Harper is following a similar path.
     Stewart calls the mass incarceration of millions of Americans one of the greatest scandals of our times. Yet little attention seems to be paid to it. The deficit and jobs are major domestic problems in the U.S. but the fact that the U.S. jails people at a rate seven times that of other developed nations seems neither here nor there.
     The U.S. with less than five per cent of the global population has 23 per cent of the prison population. At present 2,284,000 Americans are in prison with millions more under correctional supervision. Ron Paul with his campaign that would decriminalize recreational drug use is one of the few candidates to give even much thought to the problem.
     While Newt Gingrich has in the past advocated prison reform he has been notably silent on prison issues during debates. A common problem about even talking about reform for any politician is that they will depicted as soft on crime. Many fear this label could lose them support.
    In Canada the conservative government of Stephen Harper seems to be following in the U.S. path by building more prisons,  increasing penalties, and jailing more people. This is happening even as crime rates have been in decline. Some in the U.S. claim that declining crime rates there are a result of harsher penalties and more imprisonment. However as Stewart points out the declines are similar in both states with harsh criminal laws and those with less harsh laws.  In fact many studies suggest that crime rates depend much more on other factors than the severity of punishment whether harsh or relatively mild.
  Often rates of certain crimes can be altered by methods that have nothing to do with punishment. For example decriminalization of marijuana use and possession would eliminate one whole class of crimes. The Manitoba Public Insurance Co  has mandated anti-theft devices for many vehicles that have lowered the rate of auto theft substantially in Manitoba.The company pays for the devices since they save far more money than it costs to install the devices.  The devices make stealing the vehicle exceedingly difficult and this results in far fewer thefts For much more see the entire article here.
   

Crime Rates in Canada

So in Canada big cities are not that bad especially compared to the US. I find I am in the highest murder rate area, rural prairies. Perhaps it is because most rural people will have a gun handy when they get mad!


Crime rates higher in small cities: Statistics Canada
Last Updated: Thursday, June 28, 2007 | 12:45 PM ET
CBC News
New statistics suggest overall crime rates in Canada are highest in small urban areas, perhaps debunking the assumption that big cities are more dangerous.

The overall crime rate in small urban areas — home to at least 1,000 people — was 43 per cent higher than in large urban areas with a core of at least 100,000, indicates the Statistics Canada study of 2005 crime rates that was released Thursday. Only in Quebec were crime rates higher in bigger cities.

Rates of total violent crime, total property crime and break-ins were also highest in small urban areas, while robbery and motor vehicle theft were more common in large cities, the federal agency reported.

Robbery rates for large urban areas were twice those of smaller cities and nearly 10 times those of rural areas, defined by the study as places that don't qualify as either large or small urban areas.

Keeping with a 10-year trend, homicide rates were highest in rural areas. Taking population into account, the rate of 2.5 homicides per 100,000 people in rural areas was higher than the rate of 2.0 in large urban areas or 1.7 in smaller cities.

The finding is in contrast to American statistics that show homicide rates are highest in large urban areas. A University of Pennsylvania study shows that big American cities have nearly double the firearm homicide rate of most rural areas.

Continue Article

In Canada, the proportion of homicides committed with a firearm was again highest in rural areas, where a rifle or shotgun was the weapon of choice. In large and small cities, handguns were more common.

Homicide, which is considered the most serious of all criminal acts, includes first- and second-degree murder, manslaughter and infanticide.

Rural areas of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta had the highest homicide rates in the country, the study suggests. In Ontario and British Columbia, rates were higher in large cities.

Of the 658 homicides in 2005 where the location was known, 427 were committed in large urban areas, 135 in rural areas and 95 in small urban areas.

Overall, the highest crime rates were reported in the small urban areas of the western provinces — British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The lowest rates were observed in rural areas of Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and New Brunswick.