Church council calls for public education on country's addiction to punishment.

The proposed, new youth justice law should serve as a wake-up call to Canadians for urgent public education about the extent of crime and our country's "addiction to punishment," according to The Church Council on Justice and Corrections. The government's announced priorities -- rehabilitation, meaningful accountability, a reliance on less custody and more alternatives -- are all well and good but will surely fail if the ensuing public debate remains fixated on "getting tough versus being lenient" and continues to equate justice with jail, the council says.

"This is a dead-end discussion not helping to create healthy or safer communities," commented Rick Prashaw, the council's youth justice co-ordinator. "The facts are clear. Nineteen of every 20 youths in Canada were accused of no crime last year. Canada incarcerates youth much more than most Western countries, uses diversion considerably less, and youth in Canada are imprisoned at four times the rate adults are. And this reliance on punishment and custody is not deterring crime and making our communities safer."

The council supports the government in not reducing the minimum age for young offenders below 12.

The Church Council on Justice and Corrections is made up of 11 national denominations, including The Presbyterian Church in Canada, representing approximately 14,000 congregations.