Crime is increasing. Ask anyone. No
one cares about the number that Stats
Canada can pull out of its ass saying
how much crime is decreasing when
you open up the paper every day and
read about another home invasion. Or
another murder. Or another rash of
car thefts.

The problem is that criminals are
no longer afraid of the justice system
or the possible consequences of get-
ting caught because, quite frankly,
there are none. If you are caught, you
will most likely be set free on bail
pending a long hearing where, if the
judge doesn't throw out the case
because the prisons are too full already,
you will be sentenced to a fine and
probation, or some community service
for a first offense, and sent back out
into the world.

If you are unlucky enough to get
caught a second or third time, you may
be sent to prison where you will enjoy
a warm bed with a roof over your
head, some entertainment like TV, and
three catered meals per day. And if you
don't like the way things are, like some
tenants a few years back, you can com-
plain when the State tries to take away
your colour TY, or stops bringing out
a snack cart between meals.

You will also have the right to vote
for the nation’s leader, and have a job
where you will be paid, albeit poorly.
After all, you're not an animal—you're
just incapable of understanding basic
English. To pull yourself out of the
gutter and get off Vancouver's streets,
just break into someone’s business a
few times. To better your lifestyle,
merely murder someone. And you can
do all this at the expense of the honest
taxpayer who has to work to put those
meals on a table, in a house they

Man 1998 Pao 4

devil’

advocate

happen to be under 19. That way,
you'll be sent to a nice outdoor facility
somewhere in the serene countryside
rather than having to work to earn
money to go to school.

The problem is that the justice sys-
tem is no longer a deterrent. Criminals
don't fear the consequences of their
actions, or weigh the possible ramifica-
tions, because there are none. You can,
quite literally, get away with murder.
Even the old-style death penalty (using
it only in the most extreme cases of
capital crimes) isn't a deterrent. If you
kill one person, you may as well go on
a killing spree and bag yourself 500
bodies because the state can only kill
you once. Furthermore, judges are hesi-
tant to hand out such a sentence in
states where it’s legal, opting to have
criminals serve 999 years, plus three
life sentences, where they will be fed
and clothed by the state until they die.
Becoming one less wart on society's ass.

The death penalty only becomes a
deterrent when used in a system tested
by California a few years back called
“Three strikes, you're out.” You could
commit three crimes before facing
hefty jail time. The program is now in
most American states, and seems to be
working, except that the jails are filled
to the brim with first and second time
offenders, or those on their third strike
carrying out a lifetime sentence (not
actually a lifetime, but 20-30 years

with possible parole after serving
one third of the time). Those serv-
ing such sentences cannot be
reformed, and will be nothing but
a constant drain on government
money.

So why not kill them? Why not
let them have their three strikes?
You can kill one person and walk
out of court a free man. You can
steal that guy’s car and walk away
unscathed. You can then jaywalk
and you will die. So you break into
some guy's house. Strike one. You steal
some stuff while you're there. Strike
two. Then you drop a gum wrapper on
the street while running away. Strike
three. You're hauled before a judge and
your death sentence handed down and
carried out within the week. No more
long waits on death row with a fancy
final meal. If you want to break the
law, then you can pay for what you
have done.

This system also eliminates young
offenders before they become career
criminals by abolishing them from the
face of the earth before they can
become really harmful. The death
penalty now becomes a major deterrent
to anyone thinking of committing a
crime, no matter how small. Crime is
all but eliminated, and there are mas-
sive savings to the major populace.

Of course, there is the argument for
wrongful death sentencing, and inno-
cent people could die because of this
system. However, the system is already
set up to send a few innocent people
to jail anyway. And really, how is keep-
ing some innocent person in prison for
many years of his life, different from
merely putting them out of the misery
they're already in? Let's try it out; we
have nothing to lose. And nothing to
get stolen from our house during an
invasion, for that matter.