Fearmonger: Stephen Harper's Tough-on-Crime Agenda

Paula Mallea
Lorimer; October 2011
Paperback; 232 pages
9781552778982 Fearmonger is the first comprehensive independent analysis of the "tough on crime" policies and legislation being implemented by the Conservative government led by Stephen Harper. According to Statistics Canada, all crime rates -- including violent crime -- have been trending downward over the last twenty years. Yet the Harper government continues to insist Canadians are in the midst of a crime epidemic. This is their rationale for spending billions on new prisons, and for legislation that will put thousands more behind bars and increase the likelihood that young Canadians will have criminal records. In this book, author Paula Mallea lays out the evidence that contradicts the government's claims. "Tough on Crime is actually lazy on crime," says Mallea. "It is certainly tough on taxpayers. A better approach is to be smart on crime." The Harper approach has been widely used in the United States, where governments are now turning away from measures which cost billions while producing few or no measurable benefits. Fearmonger offers the research and the evidence that the Harper government's approach to criminal law and imprisonment is driven by ideology and not by concern for protecting the public from crime.   About the Author PAULA MALLEA practised criminal law for fifteen years in Toronto, Kingston, and Manitoba, mainly as defence counsel. She is a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. She is also the author of Aboriginal Law: Apartheid in Canada. She currently resides in Gore Bay, on Manitoulin Island.