Feds to introduce legislation to remove 2 for 1 credit for pretrial

Conservatives to introduce legislation

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU CHIEF

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government wants to scrap the double-time jail credit often awarded to criminals awaiting trial or sentence -- a move applauded by cops and victims' groups but condemned as futile "symbolism" by critics.

"It won't make us safer, it will crowd the prisons, it will remove an important bargaining chip that the Crown uses to clear backlogs and it will tie the hands of judges who want to settle cases," said Frank Addario, president of Ontario's Criminal Lawyers Association.

"It will reduce the number of guilty pleas and it will reward governments for keeping detentions that are unhealthy and overcrowded."

Addario said the double credit for so-called "dead time" is not automatic, and judges do not grant it if the accused is deemed to be abusing the system by deliberately dragging out proceedings.

But Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the longstanding practice is clogging up courts and provincial detention centres.

Victims groups and ordinary Canadians have also called for the change to ensure punishment fits the crime.

"I think there are many people across this country, myself included, who would like to see more truth in sentencing in the sense that the sentence you get is the sentence you will serve," he said. "This is a step in the right direction and it will have a beneficial effect right across the system."

Nicholson is confident the legislation, to be tabled tomorrow, will comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But NDP MP Joe Comartin insisted the law must leave some discretion for judges in order to survive a charter challenge.

He said many people endure dismal, overcrowded conditions for extended periods pre-trial and should get credit for that suffering.

"As long as we continue to have prisons that are of that nature, we have to reserve that right for judges to do that," he said. "It's a way for them to send a very clear message and they've done it on a number of occasions.

"They've said we cannot incarcerate people under these circumstance in a society as wealthy as Canada's based on the values that we're based on."

"It won't make us safer, it will crowd the prisons, it will remove an important bargaining chip that the Crown uses to clear backlogs and it will tie the hands of judges who want to settle cases," said Frank Addario, president of Ontario's Criminal Lawyers Association.

"It will reduce the number of guilty pleas and it will reward governments for keeping detentions that are unhealthy and overcrowded."

But NDP MP Joe Comartin insisted the law must leave some discretion for judges in order to survive a charter challenge.

He said many people endure dismal, overcrowded conditions for extended periods pre-trial and should get credit for that suffering.

"As long as we continue to have prisons that are of that nature, we have to reserve that right for judges to do that," he said. "It's a way for them to send a very clear message and they've done it on a number of occasions.

"They've said we cannot incarcerate people under these circumstance in a society as wealthy as Canada's based on the values that we're based on."