On June 2, 2012 The Eaton Centre was the scene of a Shooting. Mayor ford and Chief Blair responded to the shooting with a measure and reasoned tones,Premier McGuinty and Prime Minister Harper were each expressed shock but also solidarity with citizen of Toronto, no hysteria, just a get the job down attitude, help the victims, catch the perpetrator and reassure the public. just the way you want those in a leadership position to act. the Only discordant note was played by Federal cabinet minister Julian Fantino , He explained that the shooting at the Eaton Centre was why tough mandatory sentences, (via the Conservative Crime Bill) were so necessary. I hope this was just politics and not belief.
Laws were meant to establish standards of behaviour for individuals and communities.They inform the citizen of what actions are unacceptable,(and by that what they may do) and what obligations they may owe, they set punishments for transgressing the first and failure to carry out the second. If there is a preventative effect; it stems from a genuine desire to conform, inspired by living within a community rather than legislation. In other words people prefer to obey the rules (at least in public), those that don't are unlikely to dissuaded from bad acts.
You could make Laws that were more preventative, but it would come at cost of civil and human rights. Increase the level of surveillance, monitoring all forms of communication will net you crimes in the planning stage. Reduce the threshold of probable cause and allow arrests for crimes you might commit but haven't yet. Set the punitive cost of committing crimes to such a height that all but the most desperate, foolish or determined turn away. But this tends not to work over time, crime finds away. Crime has persisted throughout our history in periods quite brutal and decidedly undemocratic. Harsh punishment may feel just but doesn't have the payoff we need.
We must deal with a singular fact, a criminal is someone that chooses not to obey. How that choice is arrived at range, from the simple, to the complex. We need to understand how a criminal life comes into being and so find ways to divert at risk people. The best crime prevention is the one that diverts a citizen from ever taking up that life. Education, safe neighbourhoods, programs for relieving poverty are just a few of the ways to create useful citizens. Yes we need punishment and jails but we don't need a permanent underclass endlessly cycling through those institutions
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