At some point, someone is going to have a fun time explaining why it is that Canadian politicians and members of the professional commentariat seem congenitally incapable of telling the truth about our crime rates. Lies and obfuscation are the order of the day, and seemingly nothing, but nothing, can change the received narrative.
Take, f'rinstance, Chairman of the Toronto Transit Commission (and also member of Toronto city council), Adam Giambrone, as quoted in today's Globe and Mail:
A series of muggings at subway stations in recent weeks is not a sign that crime on the public transit system is getting out of control, Toronto Transit Commission officials say. ... TTC chairman Adam Giambrone acknowledged that the list of reported crimes - including an incident at Kennedy Station on Tuesday afternoon when four young men attacked two others over a cellphone - was longer than he would expect. "My understanding is that crime is not growing exponentially. But at the commission, we have various security issues," Mr. Giambrone said, adding that he is notified of every incident. "Proportionately," he said, "I believe crime is actually steady or falling on the system."
Sure, what the hell - "steady or falling". Except, as you should expect, the TTC's own statistics show that crime on the system is rising, and rather rapidly, at that:
While the TTC would not release figures for 2007, the crime rate on the transit system rose in 2006. The agency recorded 1,601 crimes of all descriptions against passengers in 2006, for a crime rate of 0.36 crimes per 100,000 riders, an increase from 0.29 in 2005 and 0.24 in 2004. The rates more than double when crimes against TTC staff are included.
So... the crime rate has increased, what, roughly 50% from 2004? But, hey, pay no attention to those squiggly little lines - it's "steady or falling".
Giambrone could be forgiven, however, if he's been getting his cues from reading the paper - because innumeracy, or lack of reading comprehension, seems to be the order of the day. You will recall that recently the Harper government recently introduced a criminal justice bill which would, horrors, make obtaining bail harder to achieve in the case of serious gun crimes, introduce additional mandatory minimums for gun crimes and impose a reverse onus on dangerous offenders. This engendered much sneering from the commentariat, who harrumphed that crime was actually "going down", so this was all fear-mongering by the Conservatives. Problem is, in making their argument, they engaged in misdirection of the most mendacious sort (how's that for alliteration?). Let's pick columns from a few different points on the political spectrum, to demonstrate how pervasive the highly politicized narrative is.
Start with Dan Gardner, writing in the Ottawa Citizen:
They have said for years that crime is a growing menace and the streets are being overrun by -- as Mr. Harper likes to say -- "guns, gangs and drugs." This is nonsense, but they claim to believe it.
What did the Toronto Star's James Travers have to say about the matter?
Most recently, and with exquisite timing, [Statistics Canada's] abacus wizards trumped the throne speech by reporting the homicide rate is continuing its happy downward spiral. Combined with July findings that the overall crime rate is at a 25-year low, that should have poked a hole in the Conservative hot air justice balloon. Truth is, facts don't matter.
Howzabout law professor Alan Young, writing in Toronto's NOW Magazine:
Should we be surprised that Stephen Harper’s omnibus Tackling Violent Crime bill was introduced the same week that StatsCan reported a 10 per cent decrease in the national homicide rate? In fact, the national crime rate has reached its lowest point in 25 years.
The fact that the same talking point is repeated can serve as the first clue that what we're dealing with is cant, rather than fact. Here's what each of the three gentlemen noted above, along with so many other commentators, missed: the Tories introduced a bill called the Tackling Violent Crime Act because, wait for it, violent crime is on the rise. But don't take my word for it - let's read the StatsCan July 2007 release that fueled so many disdainful mockings of the Conservative bill. Let's see who is engaged in spreading "nonsense" and obscuring "facts" which "don't matter". Let's see, in other words, what StatsCan actually had to say:
Canada's overall national crime rate, based on incidents reported to police, hit its lowest point in over 25 years in 2006, driven by a decline in non-violent crime. ... The crime rate dropped by 3%, mainly due to declines in break-ins, thefts under $5,000 and counterfeiting.
... The national homicide rate fell 10%, halting two years of increases. However, increases were reported in many serious violent crimes such as attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, robbery and kidnapping/forcible confinement.
... While overall violent crime remained stable, most serious violent crimes were on the rise, a situation similar to 2005.
... The youth crime rate increased 3% in 2006, the first increase since 2003. Violent crime among youth rose 3%...
So, let's concede to Travers, Young and Gardner that things that people really worry about, like counterfeiting, are on a decline. Unfortunately marring the rosy picture they want to paint is the minor fact that inconsequential things like, say, the "most serious violent crimes" have been on the rise for a couple of years. Anyways, let's go back and look at the title for that legislation the Tories were proposing - hmmm... why, it's called, imagine that, the Tackling Violent Crime Act! They must be crazy! Fabricating so-called "violent crimes" out of thin air! Lunatic, I tells ya!
We won't be able to have a lucid discussion on criminal justice policies in this country until the fundamental facts about crime actually manage to make it through the veil draped across the issue by so many.