I am inhabited by an infinite anger against our criminal justice system, in which I have worked for almost 40 years. Four people died last week in events that could have been avoided.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
According to information obtained by reporters, the suspect in the three homicides that occurred last week had an extensive criminal record for very serious crimes such as sexual assault, assault with a weapon, stalking, as well as numerous other contacts with the police and health authorities. . The individual also suffered from serious mental health problems and was considered to be at risk of violence.
According to information obtained by journalists, the suspect in the three homicides that occurred last week had already been charged with very serious crimes such as sexual assault, assault with a weapon, stalking, and thus had numerous other contacts with the police and health authorities. And if it turns out that the system has failed, I encourage them to take serious legal action against these same bodies.
If the players in the justice and health system do not want to do their job of protecting the public, they must be forced to do so.
The prevailing ideology in many professional circles and among politicians is that of decarceration, diversion, minimal intervention and tolerance. Social justice activists are proposing to limit sentences for people from minorities. However, despite all the good feelings we can have for people who have social integration problems and who have been violent, when we release a dangerous individual who has committed serious acts, it is put the risk on potential victims. This is particularly true in cultural communities where, for fear of contributing to discrimination, violent people are allowed to run in the streets.
For me, the impunity and tolerance of the justice system in Canada (enshrined by Gladue) in Indigenous communities, in addition to being eminently racist, has only exacerbated the problems of violence, especially suffered by women and children. I don’t think Canadians with an immigrant background would agree with the idea that people in their group who commit violent crimes receive lesser penalties than people in other groups. In any case, you should ask them.
Almost every week there are violent events in which shots are fired, people are injured. A report has just told us that the violent crime severity index was up 12% in Quebec, and Quebec is seeing a 10% increase in serious and armed assaults as well as a 29% increase in assaults sexual. Montreal is experiencing increases in categories of crimes such as homicide, vehicle theft, fraud.
It therefore seems that the long downward trend in violence that has lasted for 30 years has come to an end. Probably that the causes of an increase in violence are multiple and that no one will be able to target them exactly. And everyone agrees that we must invest in social programs aimed at eradicating poverty, that we must reduce inequalities, that we must have programs to help people who are experiencing difficulties. The carrot, of course.
However, what is missing in the discourse of politicians and in the laws and programs put in place is the stick.
Restricting access to firearms is good, but we must also crack down on those who use them to commit crimes. How to explain that the federal government has just abolished the law which provided for minimum sentences for the use of a firearm during the commission of a crime? In recent years, there has been a significant drop in prison populations. For example, while there were on average 2,770 people sentenced in Quebec prisons in 2017-2018, there were only 1,613 in 2020-2021, a decrease of 42%. The pandemic does not explain everything, since this progressive decarceration is a major trend in our justice system. However, it is time for our society to hold a debate on justice and for a large part of the population who is asking that the public be protected against dangerous individuals who have committed serious crimes to be listened to.