My one rant about sentencing. It's not the length, it's the proportion:

Botched Kidnapping, wherein the victim is accidentally smothered: 15 to life

Gas and Go, wherein the victim, a gas station attendant, is dragged 7 kilometers, leaving a bloody trail on the roadways for police to follow: 4-9 years including time served.

The major difference: The cruelty and negligence of the criminal: One actually was actively trying not to kill. The other, really didn't seem to give a shit.

The difference that determined sentencing: The age of the victim.

Our courts are indeed hypocritical. They claim to use rehabilitation and social harm as sentencing guidlines, but noble goals, and ones easily pursued, that they are, they are obviously not being used as the criteria for sentencing in this event. And it's not the judges. The Crown only asked for 10 years in the gas station dragging death, because, after wasting the courts time for a little while, Darnel Pratt copped a plea. On the other hand, Min Chen maintained steadfastly that he had accidentally caused Celia Jiang's death during the comission of a crime.
He plead guilty quicky, expressed his remorse and is going away for a time that won't bring the victim back.

But justice isn't about punishment. It's about salvaging as much humanity as possible from the comission of a crime. That's what rehabilitation is about. Davie Fulton said as much as Diefenbaker's Progressive Minister of Justice when he announced that the government's prison policy was going to be rehabilitation. Mr. Toews of course, not a big fan of Mr. Fulton I guess. But then none of these so called Conservatives are...













(Ah the double entendre)