September 24, 2011 (Nanaimo)
At the
annual general meeting for the BC Conservatives today, John Cummins made
two policy announcements; both addressing justice gaps in the province.
"As Conservatives we believe in the
law - that it should be applied evenly, fairly and without
discrimination," said Mr. Cummins. "Today I am announcing two important
changes a new BC Conservative government would make to uphold the law in
BC."
British Columbia is one of only a
small number of provinces where the police cannot lay charges. This
means that when the police arrest a criminal, they recommend charges to
the crown prosecutors who then decided if the case merits charges. A
consequence of this is that prosecutors, who are overworked, pick and
choose the cases with the highest chance of conviction that fit into
their heavily booked schedules.
As a result many criminals go free,
or lesser charges are dropped. This is one of the reasons BC has what is
described as a catch and release justice system.
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