Sex offenders will spend at least 30 days behind bars if they prey on children, under a proposed new law, a penalty St. Albert's member of Parliament says will keep kids safe.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tabled Bill C-54 in the House of Commons Thursday. The bill, dubbed the Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act, proposes new mandatory minimum sentences for nine youth-related sex crimes and raises the minimums for seven others. If passed, it would also require judges to consider forbidding a convicted or suspected sex offender from having unsupervised access to children or the Internet.
The bill is the latest in a series of laws tabled by the Conservative government to raise minimum jail sentences and reduce the use of house arrest.
"We want to put a floor in to match the ceiling and send a message to sexual predators … that society will not tolerate this type of activity," said Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber, referring to the fact that these crimes have maximum, but no minimum, sentences.
House arrest does not provide the restrictions needed to keep child sex predators from reoffending, Rathgeber said. "The only way we can protect children from sexual predators is to remove the predators from society."
But it's not as if you're going to lock these people away forever, said Rory Ziv, a St. Albert lawyer who often deals with sexual assault cases. Sex offenders often have real psychological problems that need treatment to keep them from reoffending. "Simply putting them in jail for a period of time and letting them out without giving them proper rehabilitation in the long run doesn't serve society at all."
More jail time
The bill, if passed, would create new minimum prison terms for incest, bestiality, Internet luring, exposure and sexual assault of someone under 16. People convicted of these acts would serve a minimum sentence ranging from 30 days to five years, depending on the crime.
It would also create two new crimes: "grooming," where a criminal primes a child for a sexual offence by giving them explicit material, and arranging sex crimes over the phone or Internet. These would carry a 30-day to one-year minimum sentence.
Seven other crimes related to sexual touching, exploitation, pornography and procurement would have longer minimums. A person indicted for sexual exploitation would now spend at least a year in jail, for example, instead of just 45 days.
Two related bills are also in the House this session. Bill C-22 would require Internet service providers to report child porn sites if they are aware of them, while Bill S-2 would give police more access to the national sex offender registry.
Will it work?
This is a transparent attempt by the government to appeal to the law and order vote, Ziv said, one that emphasizes deterrence over rehabilitation.
Deterrence doesn't work on sex offenders since they don't think rationally, Ziv said, and often have poor impulse control.
Jail is not a good place for rehabilitation, Ziv said. "You're putting these people in with peers who are the worst of the worst," he said. "You think you're going to get better if your peer group is criminals?" House arrest is not always appropriate, he said, but judges should have the leeway to use it when appropriate.
Jails might not be great places for rehab, Rathgeber said, but they have the programs to do it. His conversations with prison officials suggest that many sex offenders simply refuse to take treatment. "The issue really is one of motivation."
Details of the bill can be found at canada.justice.gc.ca.
