Mandatory minimums for violent crimes and and end to house arrest

I think that the criminal justice reforms introduced by the Tories today are great.

First of all, by intoducing mandatory minimums, the power to plea bargain is taken away from Crown attorneys. This is a good thing because often, sentences are not imposed for serious crimes such as the use of a firearm in order to obtain a guilty plea for other crimes such as murder. Some may argue that it achieves the lesser of two evils, but personally, I think sends an important message and that is that society will not tolerate violent crime no matter what.

Secondly, it takes away the power to sentence away from judges who may have their own political agendas to pursue.

Some may say that the cost is prohibitive because housing more criminals is going to require more resources, but to that, I say this: what is the primary role of government in the first place? To me, it's to protect the citizenry from those who would do others harm, and in order to do that, you've got to get them off the streets.

One further reform I'd like to see is the end of statutory release. Stat release means that when you serve your sentence in full, you get out with no follow-up. This is a recipe for disaster. Often, if you serve your full sentence, it's because the parole board thinks your too dangerous to let out early. However, then when you're let out, there are no tabs kept on you. Release should always be conditional for violent offenders, in my opinion, and those conditions should include having to report to the authorities for the rest of your life.