It is with great chagrin I read the letter article by Ms. Prithipaul and it is evident that her lofty perch in the world of academia has not allowed her feet to touch the grounds of reality.
First, it is the law that brings offenders to the justice system – composed of lawyers, justices and judges and the two should not be confused. At one time one was an extension of the other, however, the flawed Charter of Rights and Freedoms has turned the justice system into an adversarial component. If not, why are the victims, witnesses and police personnel the ones on trial? Granted, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, however, I am sure the late prime minister Trudeau did not intend that legislation to be used in the format currently used in the justice system.
Every criminal lawyer plays the game and hopes that one of the persons giving testimony slips up and it suddenly becomes a reason for mistrial or a reason to find he/she not guilty. Ms Prithipaul also feels there is not enough being done to help those committing crimes and I beg to differ. All she has to do is visit a nursing home and see the treatment there vis-a-vis a prison.
Persons behind bars are given better treatment, better health care, better access to lawyers, and countless suits are filed against the jails, the government, and "the system" for not providing them better beds, better running shoes, access to better television, and better food. She is correct that one cannot force one to participate in a program, or for that matter take a prescribed medication that may keep them on the straight and narrow.
Notwithstanding her views, there is no utopia here on Earth and there are many, many evil people in the world and one merely has to read local, national, and international news to know about these abhorrent events. The sad part is that there will never be any changes because the prime minister himself has said he is reluctant to take changes of laws before the judges and why is that?
Judges let Mr. Roszko walk among the people, and look what he did. Mr Rehn was given the same liberty. Another deranged man had his guns taken away by the police and the courts, which admonished the officers for seizing them, returned them. One of those weapons was used to kill Cpl. Jim Galloway a short while later. Until the Charter is amended there will be no change and it won't likely happen in my lifetime as the lawyers and judges see this flawed document as their "raison d'etre," their livelihood, and their means to become political instruments of change.
A.I. Smith, St. Albert
