Coddlin SOMETIMES it’s good to go off on a little rant. . And it’s been quite a while since [ve done it. But the events of the past few days involving the tragic Fraser Valley abduction and murder of litle Jessica Russell have triggered the rant impulse. As i write this, it's been only a few hours since the suspect, David Timothy Trott, was arrested fleeing from a stolen car involved in a hit and ren in Kamloops. As the facts became known since the disappearance of the little girl on Thursday, it was apparent from the outset that the police were dealing with a situation that would very like- ly end up in a tragedy that sumehow would reflect adversely on the justice sys- tem, As details of Trott’s trow- bled past began to emerge, it pecame clear that he should not have been on the streets, ‘freed by a justice system woe- fully incapable of dealing with the societal problems of those who represent ev.l, those beyond salvation. Born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Trott was destined from an early age to be a misfit. Following a trou- bled childhood (much of the details made public by his __ Stepfather and not by the _/ Ministry of Children and - Families or the Ministry of , the Attorney General) Trott was a ward of the ministry at _an early age and despite, or perhaps because of, their intervention, he began falling : afoul of the law, bouncing regularly from arrest to court to government program and back again. His adult record, relatively shore by comparison, was _ marked with warning signs of “©. horrendous things to come. Bef: . tre courts on the most recent of his criminal mis- : deeds and whiie Trott was on . -, a. court-ordered probation, the judge ordered a Pre- Sentence Report (PSR) . before pronouncing sentence. PSRs are routinely used by ~ the courts and have fong been dismissed by the police as a “waste of time. They usually form the basis of an excuse for the offender's actions. But . - rarely has the uselessness of the exercise of PSRs been laid as bare as in this case. “<<: A social worker responsi- bie for co-ordinating the PSR for Trott recommended a psy- chiatric assessment be done as part of the process. The judge’ couldn’t wait the extra 16 days required with Trott *- remaining, in custody and released him after sentencing him to “time served” and another useless period of pro- bation. Within three days Jessica Russell was dead. . The judge will no doubt sleep the sleep of the inno- cent, claiming her hands were tied. To a degree she’s right. - The Young Offender’s Act La precludes the juvenile record . being put before the judge for consideration in sentenc- ing — a ridiculous situation as : . evidenced by the Trott case. “The sheer number of the -YOA offences involved here “'should clearly have formed a part of the decision of what the court should have done with this young man. The idea that one starts with a clean slate just because of the occasion of an 18th « ‘birthday is lunacy. Especially. Leo Knight crime and punishment in the case of violent repeat offenders. The problem comes from years of Liberal governments in Ottawa who have continu- ally been soft on juvenile crime. The current Minister of Inaction and Coddling, Anne McLellan, is poised to introduce a new youth crime act that does little to address any of the failings of its pre- decessor. The inhereni failing of the politicians responsible, the social workers and the court system, is they refuse to admit that some individuals are beyond hope. No amount of counselling, therapy, probation, custodiai sentencing or any other inter- vention by any clement of the system will alter the behaviour - or attitudes of those people. At some level, the system has to recognize that some can- not and will not change. And then there are those who are truly evil — the Paul Bernardos and Cliffore Olsons of the world. Unfortunately, there are a great many more than fist those nwo examples. The jus- tice system has no answer for the truly evil. There is a0 ability to recognize and deal with real evil. The bulk of the cr mes committed in this country are perpetrated by habitual offenders. ‘Tho+e who have been in and out of the great revolving door of justice. All the best intentions of the academics and social workers unfortunately have . only a limited effect on peo- ple who are only beginning to fall afoul of the system. They cannot come to grips with the reality of the unsal- vageable and therefore ignore the issue. The whole idea of proba- tion has become a tragic joke. With a stern finger-wag- ging habitual offenders are told they are on probation yet again. Even when they were on probation at the time of the most recent offence. It doesn’t matter. 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May 10, 2000 - North Shore News - 7 reakers is criminal on top of probation Get out of jail, break into 3 house, steal a car, run frat police, commit an armed robbery. Get arrested. More probation. Get out and do it all over again. And on and on it goes. Until, sooner or ater, anoct- er innocent child is killed and society is horrified all over again. That is the real tragedy of the Jessica Russell case. It’s all so preventable. All it takes is for those in charge to recognize reality and fix the problem. The system can- not fix the behaviour of the irretrievable or the truly evil. It’s not pretty, but it’s reality. And no amount of hand- wringing and finger-pointing will change that. There, I'm done. Strangely encugh, I don't feel better for it. [ can't, not as Dawn Bakeberg, Michael Dunahee ... . —Iknight@direct.ca » there will be another ssell, Mindy Tran, “Punke™ Gustavesen, Melissa S.LAURSEN & SON | draperies & blinds Ita. 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