Critics and crime victims say that a Conservative bill threatening to get tough on young offenders is taking the wrong approach by ignoring treatment for problem children.

The so-called Safe Streets and Communities Act, unveiled Tuesday, would allow longer sentences for children as young as 14, and prevent bail for serious offences.

Gord Penner, whose 20-year-old son Jesse was killed outside a house party in Coquitlam in 2006, told CTV News that he wonders how the Tories can justify more jail time if it isn't accompanied by treatment.

The young offender who killed Jesse was 16 at the time, and received a six-year sentence. He's set to be released in June, and Penner says his detention review says he's a major risk for reoffending.

"He's taken no programs, he's done nothing -- he's been in isolation most of his time in there," Penner said.

"Why aren't these young kids with these violent histories and major drug issues really getting the aggressive rehabilitation services that they need?"

He's read the killer's background and says all of the signs pointed to a kid who needed help.

"He was hit by a vehicle in the head when he was eight and he was hit in the head again when he was 10 on his bicycle. He was kicked out of school at 11 for violence, for beating a child up. By the age of 13 there was no youth program that would take him because of his violence," Penner said.

He accuses the government of playing on the emotions of victims by introducing the crime bill.

"I'm just about dry from the tears, and now I want to see them doing something meaningful, and I find this really tough to swallow," he said.

Ray Corrado, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, says research has proven that early intervention, not incarceration, is the key for dealing with young offenders.

"You put them in custody for six months or a year or two years or three years, they're going to come out ... and if you haven't dealt with the reasons why they were violent and angry in the first place, they are going to come out of the prison system worse," he said.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington