(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
May 10, 2000)
Coddling
young lawbreakers is criminal
By Leo Knight
SOMETIMES
it's good to go off on a little rant.
And
it's been quite a while since I've done it. But the events of
the past few days involving the tragic Fraser Valley abduction
and murder of little Jessica Russell have triggered the rant
impulse.
As
I write this, it's been only a few hours since the suspect,
David Timothy Trott, was arrested fleeing from a stolen car
involved in a hit and run in Kamloops.
As
the facts became known since the disappearance of the little
girl on Thursday, it was apparent from the outset that the
police were dealing with a situation that would very likely end
up in a tragedy that somehow would reflect adversely on the
justice system.
As
details of Trott's troubled past began to emerge, it became
clear that he should not have been on the streets, freed by a
justice system woefully incapable of dealing with the societal
problems of those who represent evil, those beyond salvation.
Born
with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Trott was destined from an
early age to be a misfit. Following a troubled childhood (much
of the details made public by his stepfather and not by the
Ministry of Children and Families or the Ministry of the
Attorney General) Trott was a ward of the ministry at an early
age and despite, or perhaps because of, their intervention, he
began falling afoul of the law, bouncing regularly from arrest
to court to government program and back again.
His
adult record, relatively short by comparison, was marked with
warning signs of horrendous things to come. Before the courts on
the most recent of his criminal misdeeds and while Trott was on
a court-ordered probation, the judge ordered a Pre-Sentence
Report (PSR) before pronouncing sentence.
PSRs
are routinely used by the courts and have long been dismissed by
the police as a waste of time. They usually form the basis of an
excuse for the offender's actions. But rarely has the
uselessness of the exercise of PSRs been laid as bare as in this
case.
A
social worker responsible for co-ordinating the PSR for Trott
recommended a psychiatric assessment be done as part of the
process. The judge couldn't wait the extra 10 days required with
Trott remaining in custody and released him after sentencing him
to "time served" and another useless period of
probation. Within three days Jessica Russell was dead.
The judge will no doubt sleep the sleep of the innocent, claiming her hands were tied.
The
idea that one starts with a clean slate just because of the
occasion of an 18th birthday is lunacy. Especially in the case
of violent repeat offenders.
The
problem comes from years of Liberal governments in Ottawa who
have continually been soft on juvenile crime. The current
Minister of Inaction and Coddling, Anne McLellan, is poised to
introduce a new youth crime act that does little to address any
of the failings of its predecessor.
The
inherent failing of the politicians responsible, the social
workers and the court system, is they refuse to admit that some
individuals are beyond hope.
No
amount of counselling, therapy, probation, custodial sentencing
or any other intervention by any element of the system will
alter the behaviour or attitudes of those people. At some level,
the system has to recognize that some cannot and will not
change.
And
then there are those who are truly evil -- the Paul Bernardos
and Clifford Olsons of the world.
Unfortunately,
there are a great many more than just those two examples. The
justice system has no answer for the truly evil. There is no
ability to recognize and deal with real evil.
The
bulk of the crimes committed in this country are perpetrated by
repeat or habitual offenders. Those who have been in and out of
the great revolving door of justice.
All
the best intentions of the academics and social workers
unfortunately have only a limited effect on people who are only
beginning to fall afoul of the system. They cannot come to grips
with the reality of the unsalvageable and therefore ignore the
issue.
The
whole idea of probation has become a tragic joke.
With
a stern finger-wagging habitual offenders are told they are on
probation yet again. Even when they were on probation at the
time of the most recent offence. It doesn't matter. Breach the
probation, commit another crime and get more probation.
Probation on top of probation.
Get
out of jail, break into a house, steal a car, run from police,
commit an armed robbery. Get arrested. More probation. Get out
and do it all over again.
And
on and on it goes. Until, sooner or later, another innocent
child is killed and society is horrified all over again.
That
is the real tragedy of the Jessica Russell case.
It's
all so preventable. All it takes is for those in charge to
recognize reality and fix the problem. The system cannot fix the
behaviour of the irretrievable or the truly evil. It's not
pretty, but it's reality. And no amount of hand-wringing and
finger-pointing will change that.
There,
I'm done. Strangely enough, I don't feel better for it. I can't,
not as long as there will be another Jessica Russell, Mindy
Tran, "Punky" Gustavesen, Melissa Dawn Bakeberg,
Michael Dunahee ... .
-30-