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This could have just as easily gone under the "Human Rights Gone Awry" thread.
Our justice system coddles offenders
Naomi Lakritz, The Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, November 20, 2008
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How many times do you have to stab someone before your race or culture ceases to be a relevant part of the picture? Is 83 times enough?
That's how many times Christopher Alexander stabbed Linda LeFranc, a resident of Terrace, B. C., as she slept on her couch after a night of studying, in December 1998. Alexander, who is part aboriginal, was 17 at the time; LeFranc was 36. He lived next door to her in the condo complex she and her ex-husband co-owned. No motive for the killing was ever established. Afterward, Alexander left her body for her seven-year-old daughter, Brandy, to discover when the child woke up the next morning.
LeFranc's sister, Anita Johnstone, who lives in the North Saanich area, can be forgiven for thinking that her sister's murder should be about, well, her sister. Too bad the justice system doesn't see it that way. Tried as an adult and convicted of second-degree murder in May 2002, Alexander received a life sentence with eligibility for parole after seven years. Talk about a mockery of the very term "life sentence." After serving barely two years in the maximum security Kent Institution in Agassiz, B.C., Alexander was moved in 2004 to the Matsqui medium-security prison in Abbotsford and into the Pacific Institution/Regional Treatment Centre in the Matsqui complex.
In 2007, he moved to the minimum security Kwikwexwelhp Healing Village near Mission, where the emphasis is on cultural and spiritual teachings. This guy broke into LeFranc's home and stabbed her 83 times and he gets to live in a fenceless healing village? On Nov. 27, he will be up for a hearing for both day and full parole. Not just any old hearing, mind you, but an elder-assisted hearing in a long house at the healing village, complete with chanting and smudging.
"I find it very offensive that such care is taken to accommodate the offender and make him feel comfortable," Johnstone said in a telephone interview this week. "It's all about his rights and what he wants."
Rediscovering one's spirituality is all to the good, but it should be something personal, and kept separate from the workings of the parole board. However, the National Parole Board has conducted elder-assisted hearings since 1992. They are available to non-aboriginals upon request, too, although there is no provision for hearings tailor-made to any other culture. According to the board, such hearings take "into account the uniqueness of aboriginal culture and heritage. The objective is to provide an environment of trust and respect where the offender can feel comfortable in sharing information related to his/her journey."
Well, along Christopher Alexander's "journey," -- don't you just love that New Age word? -- he stabbed his next-door neighbour to death. That has nothing to do with culture and heritage. It has to do with his actions and personal responsibility. Maybe some of the "information" he could "share" might also be to enlighten others as to his behaviour just days after the murder. The grisly task of cleaning up the crime scene in Linda's condo when the police were through collecting evidence fell to Johnstone. She recalls that Alexander, who hadn't yet been arrested, came by and "stood and stared at me." He also turned up at Linda's funeral and signed the guest book.
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Our justice system coddles offenders
Naomi Lakritz, The Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, November 20, 2008
Article Link
How many times do you have to stab someone before your race or culture ceases to be a relevant part of the picture? Is 83 times enough?
That's how many times Christopher Alexander stabbed Linda LeFranc, a resident of Terrace, B. C., as she slept on her couch after a night of studying, in December 1998. Alexander, who is part aboriginal, was 17 at the time; LeFranc was 36. He lived next door to her in the condo complex she and her ex-husband co-owned. No motive for the killing was ever established. Afterward, Alexander left her body for her seven-year-old daughter, Brandy, to discover when the child woke up the next morning.
LeFranc's sister, Anita Johnstone, who lives in the North Saanich area, can be forgiven for thinking that her sister's murder should be about, well, her sister. Too bad the justice system doesn't see it that way. Tried as an adult and convicted of second-degree murder in May 2002, Alexander received a life sentence with eligibility for parole after seven years. Talk about a mockery of the very term "life sentence." After serving barely two years in the maximum security Kent Institution in Agassiz, B.C., Alexander was moved in 2004 to the Matsqui medium-security prison in Abbotsford and into the Pacific Institution/Regional Treatment Centre in the Matsqui complex.
In 2007, he moved to the minimum security Kwikwexwelhp Healing Village near Mission, where the emphasis is on cultural and spiritual teachings. This guy broke into LeFranc's home and stabbed her 83 times and he gets to live in a fenceless healing village? On Nov. 27, he will be up for a hearing for both day and full parole. Not just any old hearing, mind you, but an elder-assisted hearing in a long house at the healing village, complete with chanting and smudging.
"I find it very offensive that such care is taken to accommodate the offender and make him feel comfortable," Johnstone said in a telephone interview this week. "It's all about his rights and what he wants."
Rediscovering one's spirituality is all to the good, but it should be something personal, and kept separate from the workings of the parole board. However, the National Parole Board has conducted elder-assisted hearings since 1992. They are available to non-aboriginals upon request, too, although there is no provision for hearings tailor-made to any other culture. According to the board, such hearings take "into account the uniqueness of aboriginal culture and heritage. The objective is to provide an environment of trust and respect where the offender can feel comfortable in sharing information related to his/her journey."
Well, along Christopher Alexander's "journey," -- don't you just love that New Age word? -- he stabbed his next-door neighbour to death. That has nothing to do with culture and heritage. It has to do with his actions and personal responsibility. Maybe some of the "information" he could "share" might also be to enlighten others as to his behaviour just days after the murder. The grisly task of cleaning up the crime scene in Linda's condo when the police were through collecting evidence fell to Johnstone. She recalls that Alexander, who hadn't yet been arrested, came by and "stood and stared at me." He also turned up at Linda's funeral and signed the guest book.
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