NDP wants teen offenders tracked by GPS

[madmax]

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1050129.html

I have to wonder if the Progressives Conservatives will go down to defeat in the next election?

[DrGreenthumb]

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1050129.html

I have to wonder if the Progressives Conservatives will go down to defeat in the next election?

I hope all the conservatives will be defeated in the next election, every last one of them. Manitoba's NDP government has already started using GPS bracelets to track chronic car thieves. Great idea in my opinion. I'd rather see repeat car thieves spend a lengthy term in a small jail cell, but using this technology will be a lot cheaper for the taxpayer. Frankly I think use of this technology should be a lot more widespread, and every person who has been convicted of a sex-crime or ANY type of theft should wear one forever so we will always have proof of where they are and where they have been. it would record their presence at a crime scene for instance and to any place they may have gone to sell stolen goods. Also if a sex-offender is in the vicinity of a school police could be immediately alerted. I also think we need a system that calculates value of damages and forces the offender to "work off" those damages until their victim has been properly compensated for their losses

[M.Dancer]

I never thought I would see the NDP move towards an authoritarian regime....

[Wild Bill]

I never thought I would see the NDP move towards an authoritarian regime....

Surely you've seen enough examples through history! Socialist governments ALWAYS drift into authoritarianism!!

The usual explanation is that socialists tend to be more academic than practical in their approaches to the real world. This means that for them, things rarely work. This gives them only two options. They can admit they are wrong and try something more practical or they can get angry and blame it on evil capitalists, greedy people or (the favourite in Canada) American influence.

The only way to deal with the latter is with force. Of course, things still don't work any better because the socialist approach was flawed in the first place. So they just get angrier and even more forceful. They believe that if they could just achieve absolute control they can FORCE things (and people) to work the way they think they should. Unless the process is stopped eventually we see a totalitarian state.

Sometimes we see what appear to be exceptions to the rule but on closer examination we see that things are quite different. A government may be socialist in name but practical in application. Witness Tony Blair's Labour government or some of our prairie NDP provincial governments. Then look at Bob Rae's NDP government some years ago in Ontario. Or the federal NDP. Obviously completely different animals.

IMHO, of course.

[WarBicycle]

The Young Offender's Act prohibits offending youths from being identified; forcing them to wear a GPS bracelet will identify them as offenders.

[M.Dancer]

The Young Offender's Act prohibits offending youths from being identified; forcing them to wear a GPS bracelet will identify them as offenders.

Put sparkles on it so it will just be bling bling as it sends out its beep beeps...

[Canadian Blue]

I hope all the conservatives will be defeated in the next election, every last one of them. Manitoba's NDP government has already started using GPS bracelets to track chronic car thieves. Great idea in my opinion. I'd rather see repeat car thieves spend a lengthy term in a small jail cell, but using this technology will be a lot cheaper for the taxpayer. Frankly I think use of this technology should be a lot more widespread, and every person who has been convicted of a sex-crime or ANY type of theft should wear one forever so we will always have proof of where they are and where they have been. it would record their presence at a crime scene for instance and to any place they may have gone to sell stolen goods. Also if a sex-offender is in the vicinity of a school police could be immediately alerted. I also think we need a system that calculates value of damages and forces the offender to "work off" those damages until their victim has been properly compensated for their losses

That is unless a Conservative Party ever supports that measure in which case you'll start bleating on about how they are "fascist" and authoritarian.

[madmax]

That is unless a Conservative Party ever supports that measure in which case you'll start bleating on about how they are "fascist" and authoritarian.

Politics come full circle.

CB=+1

[madmax]

I hope all the conservatives will be defeated in the next election, every last one of them. Manitoba's NDP government has already started using GPS bracelets to track chronic car thieves. I also think we need a system that calculates value of damages and forces the offender to "work off" those damages until their victim has been properly compensated for their losses

This is interesting. I don't know if Manitoba laws allow young offenders (prone to steal cars) be tracked. I also like the idea of your last sentence when I think of large corporate criminals like Conrad Black, and all the larger Corporate Convicts who have been parading off to jail in the US. Or some of the politicians who break the law.

There are compensation claims for victims, but not by the offender.

In some Right Wing Countries with heavy religious overtones, making the offender compensate the victim was part of the sentencing.

Of course, the Taliban had that modell.

So, if people point out that there is some authoritarian measure behind this... they could well be on the right track.

[August1991]

The Young Offender's Act prohibits offending youths from being identified; forcing them to wear a GPS bracelet will identify them as offenders.

The bracelet is worn on the lower leg and is not normally seen. They are increasingly used on others such as Alzeimher sufferers and autistic children.

It is wrong to imply that the NDP is proposing this policy. If you read the article, it is apparent that it is one NDP MLA in Nova Scotia. Keith Martin wants to rescind Section 13 of the Human Rights Act but no one would say that the Liberals are proposing that.

The article also has this curious quote:

But Jim Gosse, president of Local 480 of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, said other provinces are getting rid of GPS monitoring.

"I’m suggesting they are not effective whatsoever," Mr. Gosse said Wednesday. "The batteries don’t last. It’s GPS, of course. You have individuals living in huge apartment complexes. You have shopping malls, of course. Yes, we know an offender is in there, but where? Not a clue."

Why are the unions against this? Do the unions want society to have more prisoners because it means more union dues? Or are unions just opposed to anything new?

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From what I can gather, these GPS bracelets work but not perfectly. The batteries have to be recharged, for example, and they only show if someone is inside a building - not where inside the building. When someone rips the bracelet off or lets the battery die, then a parole officer has to go and investigate. This takes time. (About 10% of prisoners do this at one point.)

Nevertheless, they cost about $15-20 per day as opposed to about $80 per day to keep a prisoner in prison. When sentencing or imposing parole or bail conditions, the option of house arrest and GPS bracelet is handy.

This kind of technology will become more pervasive in the future and I see no reason to exclude teen offenders. I have one concern. To work, the penalties of our criminal system must be deterrents. A cell phone attached to an ankle hardly strikes me as much of a burden.

[BubberMiley]

I never thought I would see the NDP move towards an authoritarian regime....

You really think it's authoritarian to track chronic criminals? You must find the use of prisons to be intolerable.

[DrGreenthumb]

That is unless a Conservative Party ever supports that measure in which case you'll start bleating on about how they are "fascist" and authoritarian.

That is just stupid and shows you know nothing about my opinions on crime other than I don't think people should go to jail over their choice of intoxicants. I, like most people, NDP or otherwise detest crime, and have no sympathy for criminals.

Stealing, rape, assault, and murder are all REAL crimes where someone has been clearly wronged by another person. For stuff like cheating on elections spending where the whole country is wronged I would certainly like to see some jail time for the leader of such a political party.

It is not authoritarian to protect the public from predaTORY people who hurt others by stealing from them or assaulting them etc, jailing people like that is specifically done to remove a proven threat from harming others. It is authoritarian however for the state to attempt to protect people from themselves, even when they tell the state they do not want or need their protection. Telling somebody for instance that if they grow a single cannabis plant they will be forced into a cage for 6 months is hopelessly authoritarian , and yes fascist. Even telling somebody that they cannot buy sell or consume any substance that they want to consume is authoritarian. Unless the state can prove some very clear and direct threat to others by a citizens activity the state has no business directing how we choose to live our lives, at least not in a "FREE" country.

It is the Conservatives that cannot seem to tell the difference between sin and crime. I don't even see how they can define plant growing as sin, even God does that.

[AngusThermopyle]

It is not authoritarian to protect the public from predaTORY people who hurt others by stealing from them or assaulting them etc,

Okay, first you talk about how people misread your stand on this issue, implying that you are non discriminatory. But then you post the above. The implication being that Conservatives indulge in your posted points.

What a baseless pile of nonsense.

[guyser]

The bracelet is worn on the lower leg and is not normally seen.

From what I can gather, these GPS bracelets work but not perfectly. The batteries have to be recharged,

I read , or heard this week, the States somewhere, the battery and charging of said, is part of the parole. If the battery dies, you breach parole and back in the clink ya go. Any tampering, battery impairment, misuse and you have violated parole.

Good idea as far as I can tell

[M.Dancer]

That is just stupid and shows you know nothing about my opinions on crime other than I don't think people should go to jail over their choice of intoxicants. I, like most people, NDP or otherwise detest crime, and have no sympathy for criminals.

Except if their name is Sven...

[Zachary Young]

"You really think it's authoritarian to track chronic criminals? You must find the use of prisons to be intolerable."

Yes, the government monitoring it's citizens is authoritarian, go read some Orwell asap.