Judicial system not always about justice

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

12 March 2008

Posted By McIntosh, Claude

If you're looking for justice the last place you might want to look is the judicial system.

At least in this country, where years of bleeding-heart liberalism have eroded a system that has become more concerned with the rights of the accused than the victim.

This was a gut-wrenching point made by several victims who testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry.

They complained of how they got lost in the judicial shuffle, while their abusers were handed all-too-lenient sentences.

Some felt they had been treated like a "bother" to the system. Betrayed by the system would be more accurate.

Few felt the court system had worked for them.

It'll be interesting to see how Justice Normand Glaude deals with this in his report.

Now we have a Cornwall woman and her young son living in fear of the man who abused the youngster when he was five years old.

Incredibly, the molester served just 11 months in the slammer.

And this is a guy with a lengthy criminal record going back to 1974. In most of these cases, the police investigation and the journey through the court system take months, if not years.

And for what? So a child molester can cut a backroom deal for a slap on the wrist.

Bad enough that the piece of scum barely has time to finish War and Peace before getting out, the system allows him the right to find a place to live within earshot of the young victim and his mother.

Coincidence? Hmmm.

He can do this because the system doesn't want to violate his right to live where he wants, even if it is in the same neighbourhood as his victim.

Oh ya, he's got some restrictions: Can't be around kids under the age of 14 (but he can hang out with 15 year olds).

Boy, that must make life tough for a pedophile.

The police will do their best to keep tabs on him, but they can't babysit him. That's called harassment.

Many times cases are tossed because the rights of the accused have been jeopardized by delays.

Thousands of hours of police work and a ton of money go down the drain.

But when this happens, what about the rights of the victim?

The system seems to take a "well-that's-too-bad, better-luck- next-time" attitude.

The liberals like to tell us that putting people in prison doesn't work.

Of course, when Liberal-minded opponents of tougher prison sentences become victims of a crime you won't find them standing before a judge, pleading on behalf of their perpetrator for a lenient sentence.

COFFEE GRINDS

City and contractors did a great job getting the city streets back in shape after Sunday's blizzard, but somebody in charge should look at quicker action at the Brookdale Avenue traffic circle.

Those high banks (still there as of Tuesday morning) are a traffic hazard. For motorists, it's a pull-out-and see-what happens situation.

Cutting the traffic circle banks to give merging traffic a better view should be a higher priority than cleaning the banks on Pitt Street.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League will return to the old Verdun Auditorium next season, a franchise shift from St. John's, NL.

A far better shift would have been to the LumDome.

The "Q" has much more appeal with Cornwall fans than the OHL.

Back looking at the crystal ball again this week and we see a two-man race in 2010.

Let's see . . . there's Bob the Builder. The other guy looks a lot like Phil.

With the increased flow of tax-free smokes across the border, nabbing cigarette smugglers is getting a lot easier for local law enforcement agencies.

They just stop every 10 vehicles large enough to carry at least three cases of smokes.