As part of its crime-and-punishment agenda, the government has announced that it will table a bill for a “three strikes” law like those that exist in some American states. The proposal outlined would create a presumption that anyone convicted of three sex or other violent crimes is a dangerous offender subject to an indeterminate sentence.

Jason Gratl, President of the BCCLA: “The complex field of criminology reduced to a baseball metaphor? This is, to put it charitably, a sophomoric approach to penal justice.”

The BCCLA joins opposition parties and other critics in decrying the proposed legislation as unconstitutional and an affront to Canadian values of fairness.

Gratl: “The current minority government is appealing to and promoting the weakest aspects of the human spirit – feelings of helplessness and fear in the electorate. Despite daily bombardment by sensational media stories of crime, we are not overrun by lawlessness. In fact, the national crime rate has been relatively stable since 1999.”