Vic Toews, supposed Public Safety minister, is the master of fake indignation, especially over something that happened on his government's watch three years ago and went completely unnoticed.
Former junior hockey coach Graham James pleaded guilty in 1997 to sexually assaulting teenage players under his influence. He was sentenced to 3.5 years imprisonment. James served his time, waited the requisite period afterward, applied for and was granted a pardon by the National Parole Board. The government of the day when James got pardoned? Why that would be the Harper Tories. Worse yet, nobody on the Harper team even noticed. Oopsie!
It was bad enough that it happened on their watch but that didn't stop the inevitable Tory hue and cry and gnashing of teeth about how such a thing could happen. They wanted a blood sacrifice and they were staring intently at the National Parole Board for their offering. Oopsie!
Turns out the NPB was only following orders. The procedures governing pardons allowed the board no discretion based on the nature of most offences. Do your time, behave yourself during the waiting period, apply and you're pardoned. Bad as that may be, by howling at the moon over the James case the Tories showed they didn't have a clue how their own agencies worked even though they've been in power for four years.
I suppose Toews was simply too focused on upholding his staunch family values by fathering illegitimate kids to pay attention to the workings of the National Parole Board. Now that the horse is safely out to pasture the Tories are racing to close the barn door. Typical.
I find it sad that everyone is so bend on punishing someone for a crime long after they has served their sentence and their debt is paid. I guess the countries that chop off someone's hands for stealing kind of do that, but I'm sickened at the outrage that seems to demand that punishment by the state be ongoing for life, rather than offering a pardon (which still keeps the record available to those who need to see it) to those who stay out of trouble after their incarceration is complete. It's eye for an eye mentality from the press, the conservatives, and most disappointedly, also from the liberals.
ReplyDeletePedophiles do not change. They do not rehabilitate. It is a scientic fact.
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:25. About a year ago there was some researcher who claimed that wasn't true but, unfortunately, I tend to think you're right. Once a person has sexually molested or raped kids, how can that person ever be trusted around kids again?
ReplyDeleteYou miss the point that a pardon keeps the record of the crime in a database that is checked for employment around children. That doesn't disappear. No one said it did.
ReplyDeleteNo Anon 10:11, I didn't miss that. I was merely responding to the question of whether child molestors can be rehabilitated.
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