SOCIETY AND SELF DEFENSE

Today's post is written by a friend of mine who's 16 year old son was murdered last year on the Canada Day long weekend. Through this senseless crime this family has stayed positive with dealing with the horror of there sons death, even though they have been revictimized by the justice system over and over again by having one of the accused bail set for peanuts and staying only 6 blocks away from there family home. Sandie Martins-Toner has started an organization called F.A.C.T (Families Against Crime And Trauma) and her husband David Toner has started a Guardian Angels Chapter in the Vancouver BC area. This article is written by Sandie on how the justice system revictimizes the victim and on how to make judges accountable for there actions.



Shame the Judges

I think it’s high time to lay blame where it belongs. We need to stop blaming our police officers for all the criminals roaming the streets, and get to the source, our Justice System. We should kiss these officers asses for not walking off the job, for all the abuse they get. We seem to forget how often these criminals are arrested, and by the end of the day they are back out.
Remember the "Shame the Johns" program the police had? The one used to combat the victimization of child prostitutes? We should try that with our judicial system. Every time a Judge in BC lets a repeat offender off with a slap on the wrist, or allows a violent pedophile back into our communities, or some other such judicial blunder; I say we shame them publicly. Nothing like a little public humiliation and ridicule to re-adjust your sense of community responsibility.

The problem with today’s legal system is well known to be the judiciary. The cops arrest the bad guys, and assuming they can even get Crown Council to accept the charge (another shameful slap to the administration of justice – allowing some clerk to decide if a suspect gets charged) the chances of the accused being convicted of the crime and serving any significant sentence are… Well, you’ve heard about the snowball’s chances in the hot place.

Only when the judges are made to be accountable for their decisions will they begin to consider them more carefully. Why, you ask, do they not care? Why are they not handing down serious time for serious crimes? Simple… Because they have become complacent. It’s easier to go along with an earlier ruling, to follow the lead of precedent than to stand up and perhaps receive unwanted attention, or God forbid; publicity. So, what we have to do is make the consequences of not doing the right thing worse for them. Publish the "offending" Judge’s name and shameful act of judicial cowardice for all to see. Bring out the tar and the feathers too! Someone has to wake up the bench, and if shaming Johns by photographing them and publishing their particulars worked as a deterrent for street solicitation, maybe something similar is needed for our judges.




Sandra Martins-Toner
Executive Director
Families Against Crime & Trauma