ustice rot cozes from top

Leo
| Knight

crime and
prrsishment

I ended my last column
with the statement that
the charge approval sys-
tem employed by the
attorney general simply
doesn’t work,

I suggested the program
was driven by politica! and
financial reasons.

T iflustrated my point with
two examples in which
charges were recommended
by the police and not
approved by Crawn Counsel
for the most specious of rea-
sons. The examples used, by

‘the way, were only two of
dozens given to me by police
officers whose frustration has
grown to anger.

Let me explain.

In nine provinces the
-police investigate crimes,
gather evidence and file
charges against people police
can provide sufficient evi-
dence agair.st to conyict. The
-Crown prosecutors are then
duty bound to deal with the
charges in front of a judge.
The charges may be proceed-

d ‘with, amended or stayed.

-But again, all must be done
befigre a judge. This keeps

the owo branches of the crim-
inal justice system separate
bur equally important.

In British Columbia, this
is not the case. Here the
police investigate the crime
and file a “Report to Crown
Counsel” zecommending
charges based on the evi-
dence they have gathered.
The report is then reviewed
by a lawyer in the Charge
Approval section of the
Crown Counsel’s office.

The test, here, is not
whether sufficient evidence
exists to establish a “prima
facie” case against the
accused person, but under
attorney general guidelines,
whether or not there exists a
“sufficient likelihood of con-
viction.” This effectively
turns the reviewing lawyer
into a de facto judge and
jury. He or she can refuse to
prosecute a charge for all
manner of reasons, good, bad
or indifferent, It is here the
potential for abuse occurs.

Lawyers for the Crown are
direct emplo yees of the
Ministry of the Attorney
General. They are beholden,
for their daily crust, to a
politician appointed by the
premier, The agenda of the
government becomes, there-
fore, very much their “agenda.
He who pays the piper calls
the une, so to speak.

To understand the prob-
lem, one needs look at the
financial quagmire created by
the current government in
Victoria. Messicurs Clark,
Perter, Miller et al have so

badly mismanaged the
finances of this province they
are scrambling to cut whatev-
er programs they think they
can get away with as Jong as
no damage is done to Ken
Georgeiti and their other
union masters. The NDP’s
basic raison d’etre is to hold
on to power and get re-elect-
ed.

Aye, there’s the rub. The
lawyers who act as Crown
counsel are supposedly repre-
senting the interests of the
general public. Their specitic
job is to act as advocates, on
behalf of the citizenry, before
an independent judge who
will render a decision based
upon the facts presented
while guided by judicial
precedent.

At least in theory.

With doltars being at a
premium for such luxuries as
justice, the politicians know
they can cut expenses by
reducing the number of trials.

They will need fewer
judges, courtrooms, ancillary
staff and al} those other nasty
and expensive things.

tunately, the politi-
cian’s solution to the prob-
lem is exacerbated by the fact
the criminals and the poiice
are not co-operating. The
crooks are committing crimes
in ever-increasing numbers.
The police are swamped try-
ing to keep up. More arrests
are being made than ever
before. How then, can the
political agenda. be adhered
to?

Full circle. We now arrive

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back at the charge approval
system. If the Crown doesn’t
approve the charges recom-
mended by the police, then
trials and the resulting costs
can be reduced.

Bad gays commit crimes.
The police do their job. The
political agenda kicks in and
the bad guys are kicked out.
Right back on the street
ready to break in to your
house or steal your car.

Sunday, August 24, 1997 — North Shore News — 13

Pm not for a moment
suggesting this is the only
problem with the criminal
justice system. Far from it.
The system is rite with all
sorts of inadequacies, incom-
petence and malfeasance.
What I am saying is the
politicians are failing miser-
ably in protecting yau and
me from the rampages of
crime. And they are failing
for the worst of all reasons.
Their own political ambitions
are first and foremost in their
minds. The good of society,
unfortunately, doesn’t even
rank.

The administration of jus-
tice should not fall victim to
politically driven financial
considerations. Certainly not
while this government doles
out largesse to irs pals and
pet, politically correct causes.

The cops | spoke to are
spitting mad. Will things
change so we might be better
protected? Probably. Right
after the government learns
to tell the truth. Which
should be, roughly, when the
theulogical place of eternal
punishment reaches a temper-
ature somewhat below zero
degrees Celsius.

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