RESTRAINT

Several principles of criminal law were discussed but one was emphasized repeatedly – restraint. Several participants noted that the criminal law is increasingly being used to attempt to solve a host of social and economic problems. It was suggested that "the criminal net is being cast too wide" and that the criminal justice system is "the pot into which we dump every social problem." By making more and more acts criminal, participants said Canadians are getting a false sense of security. The criminal law should be restricted to behaviour that is truly criminal and several participants wanted restraint in the criminal law to be a key priority in any reform project. Said one: "We've spent 20 years criminalizing everything. We have to stop. We have to acknowledge we have a crisis." Politicians must resist the temptation to create a new offence every time there is a crisis. It was also noted that there is an inequality in the application of the criminal law – white-collar and economic crimes are not pursued with as much vigilance as other types of wrongs.

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