Why crime?

There is no doubt that crime is a great and uncomfortable ill of society.  A break-in victim feels violated, though in a small way compared to the victim of rape.  And murder, well, God protect us all from the Russell Williams of the world.  But should crime be a priority for our government at this time?   Are there serious flaws in our system of law and order that need strong and immediate redressing?  Is crime currently more important than, say, the environment, health care, or foreign policy?

The facts are these:  crime rates have gone down in the last decade (12%), including, Williams notwithstanding, the violent nature of crimes (22%).  Furthermore, the vast majority (93%) of Canadians feel unthreatened by crime.  So why would Stephen Harper have us think it's such a problem?

Ian Brown writes an intriguing piece deconstructing the crime game (G&M April 9) in which he argues that the Conservative desire to build more jails, eliminate parole, incarcerate offenders for the full extent of their sentences is predicated on the fundamental philosophical view that people do not change who they are, that rehabilitation programs don't work, and that bad people should simply be kept away from the rest of us.

It reminds me of Michael Moore's cartoon sketch in Bowling for Columbine called "A Short History of America."  In it he parodies the white man's fear of the black man from the beginning of the slave trade, and suggests that it was fear of difference that created the great racial problems in the United States.  This fear of difference in turn created unfounded fears of violence, which in turn led the whites to work ever harder to protect themselves against an enemy more ghostly than real.  Deliberately simplistic, the cartoon nevertheless contains a message worth reflecting upon.

Choosing to focus on crime when statistics show that its incidence and severity are abating is not rational; it is not common sense.  Only through playing to our fears does such a strategy have resonance.

Stephen Harper may want to live in a bubble, but is that what the rest of us want?