There was a lot of reaction in Quebec media today to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s promise to toughen sentencing for violent youth crime.

Emmanuel Marchand

Several criminologists and social workers are saying giving teenagers longer prison terms would mean a greater chance those offenders would come out hardened criminals. They say Haper's plan doesn’t deal with the social nuances that lead to criminal behaviour.

The plan also got a cold reception from the Quebec government. “If this promise becomes an integral part of government policy we will intervene,” says a government spokesperson.

Youth crime in Quebec is trending down according to the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. In 2006 youth crime dropped four per cent compared to a three per cent jump in the rest of Canada.

Experts say those statistics show the Quebec model works. And a study by Louis-Georges Cournoyer and Jacques Dionne concludes that youth who go through an intensive probation program have a lower rate of recidivism.

Editorialists in Le Devoir and La Presse both say Harper's proposal is the wrong approach. Both question the dissuasive effect of harsher sentences. “It is a simplistic solution to a complex problem,” says André Pratte of La Presse. “It may be popular in some circles, but it is rarely effective."

“We would be ruining lives without the certainty that this approach works,” adds Bernard Décoteaux in Le Devoir.

But there is also an acknowledgment that this promise may be quite popular in other parts of the country — places like Winnipeg that have suffered through a recent rash of violent youth crime.

— Emmanuel Marchand