Safe?
Upon listening to the morning news today I heard that there is a nation wide manhunt for a known pedophile, Peter Whitmore, who has allegedly kidnapped a ten year old boy. The perpetrator has served ten years previously for abduction and sexual assault of a child. A few days after his release he abducted another little girl, receiving 55 months. 55 MONTHS! Unbelievable.
Having worked five years in a federal maximum security prison we had several inmates who were doing life on the instalment plan. Essentially, that’s slang for offenders who do a variety of pen bits that eventually see them in prison for the majority of their lives. That part isn’t so bad – the being locked up. The problem is that to get locked up they have to commit more crime and therefore create more victims. Six RCMP Officers and numerous civilians have made the ranks of the victims over this past year alone. Sadly, in some cases, the killers will be eligible for parole again in 15-25 years.
My point is this: if the role of our criminal justice system is to (a) protect society while (b) attempting to make law abiding citizens out of Offenders, then how can these aforementioned individuals be at large? In the case of the pedophile, he abducted a girl days after serving a 10 year sentence. Why was he ever released again? I know that we Canadians try to be compassionate and civilised people, but honestly, is our idealism such that it has made us blind that some people need to be warehoused for the rest of their lives at the very least, if not a bullet to the back of their head? I know that the latter may sound savage, but what can you do with an individual who brutally preys on children? If we can justify sending troops into war to fight the perception of global terrorism, then surely we could justify neutralising social terrorists.
In closing, most folks wait until something affects them directly before they react. We need to become more proactive in our communities. I personally tip my hat to the small community of fisherman who, last week in New Brunswick, formed a mob and went on to burn down a known drug house that was selling to the children in their community, running many of the dealers out of the community. Surely vigilante justice can quickly get turned around sideways (i.e. mob rule), but the actions of these people shows the level of desperation out there. Besides, if you are not willing to stand up for the health of your community, then what exactly is your part in the picture?
Upon listening to the morning news today I heard that there is a nation wide manhunt for a known pedophile, Peter Whitmore, who has allegedly kidnapped a ten year old boy. The perpetrator has served ten years previously for abduction and sexual assault of a child. A few days after his release he abducted another little girl, receiving 55 months. 55 MONTHS! Unbelievable.
Having worked five years in a federal maximum security prison we had several inmates who were doing life on the instalment plan. Essentially, that’s slang for offenders who do a variety of pen bits that eventually see them in prison for the majority of their lives. That part isn’t so bad – the being locked up. The problem is that to get locked up they have to commit more crime and therefore create more victims. Six RCMP Officers and numerous civilians have made the ranks of the victims over this past year alone. Sadly, in some cases, the killers will be eligible for parole again in 15-25 years.
My point is this: if the role of our criminal justice system is to (a) protect society while (b) attempting to make law abiding citizens out of Offenders, then how can these aforementioned individuals be at large? In the case of the pedophile, he abducted a girl days after serving a 10 year sentence. Why was he ever released again? I know that we Canadians try to be compassionate and civilised people, but honestly, is our idealism such that it has made us blind that some people need to be warehoused for the rest of their lives at the very least, if not a bullet to the back of their head? I know that the latter may sound savage, but what can you do with an individual who brutally preys on children? If we can justify sending troops into war to fight the perception of global terrorism, then surely we could justify neutralising social terrorists.
In closing, most folks wait until something affects them directly before they react. We need to become more proactive in our communities. I personally tip my hat to the small community of fisherman who, last week in New Brunswick, formed a mob and went on to burn down a known drug house that was selling to the children in their community, running many of the dealers out of the community. Surely vigilante justice can quickly get turned around sideways (i.e. mob rule), but the actions of these people shows the level of desperation out there. Besides, if you are not willing to stand up for the health of your community, then what exactly is your part in the picture?
posted by Ed Meers @ 7/31/2006 09:33:00 a.m.
1 Comments:
At 2:41 p.m. ,
Anonymous said...
if it is not too late for cockroach comments, above following entries make you want to take family in canoe to isolated area, quit 'c' rated ess sea. live on island read camus, not joyce, listen to cowboy junkies/huskerdu and sleep in home-made winery.... we live in wonderful world where traitors to islam are al quaidah and hezbollah, traitors to christ are falwell, bush-league literalists, government of israel uses neo nazi tactics, the parole bored protects offenders from society, teachers get less than guards to protect the guilty from the innocent... i.c.u. but my island is so far aweigh and claude fell into the ocean of darfur and no new reports of that... etranger indeed....i am off in a '76 dodge ram to dust off some mosquito bikes as they pass me on groat road doing 99 kph... slight lane change swat and... silence, spring comes and the bodies buried by winter are uncovered... the most un-zen like feeling.... oh, okay, out on the patio for a smoke, supposing soon you ceas to stand on guard for me, good luck trying to get teen angsters to lock up. g.s. cockroach, nodrog anon, et al.
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