Greyhound Bus Cannibal rehabilitated after 4 years?

If the alternative is an american-style justice system, I'll stick with what we've got, thanks. Read up on recidivism rates under different systems.

An eye for an eye does not improve your society. Taking your justice system down the path of revenge makes your country more dangerous, not less, at a greater financial cost to taxpayers. The only thing it accomplishes is to satisfy the bloodlust so many seem to feel. I swear there is a segment of western society who would relish public executions....being able to stand around and cheer death like they did in the dark ages, or do in some of the 'savage' countries those same people like to be so critical of.

As polaris said, if a team of doctors has determined this guy to not be criminally responsible for his actions, and that he is safe to be allowed escorted passes, so be it. What good does it do the doctors or their egos to be leniant in this?

This is from the Canadian government website...
http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/res/cor/s ... 1-eng.aspx
Question

Does punishment of offenders reduce their re-offending?

Background

In the mid-1970s, there was a noticeable shift in criminal justice policy in the United States, and less markedly in Canada. Emphasis was directed away from offender rehabilitation programming toward punishment in order to control recidivistic crime. The use of incarceration increased substantially in many jurisdictions and sentences of imprisonment became longer. In addition to the increased use of incarceration, the last 25 years saw an explosion in the use of intermediate sanctions.

Intermediate sanctions represent a range of punishments falling between traditional probation and imprisonment. They include intensive probation supervision, electronic monitoring, boot camps and short periods of incarceration followed by intensive surveillance in the community ("shock incarceration"). Underlying these punitive approaches to criminal behaviour is the belief that criminal justice sanctions will deter offenders from re-offending.



Method

A meta-analytic review of the literature on the effects of criminal justice sanctions on recidivism was conducted. Meta-analysis provides a quantitative synthesis of the research literature and this method is widely regarded as superior to the more traditional narrative literature review.

The literature search identified 111 studies that examined the association between various criminal justice punishments and recidivism. Over 442,000 offenders were involved in these studies. The review included studies of imprisonment and intermediate sanctions. Noteworthy in the review were analyses of the findings with different types of offenders (e.g., juveniles, women, minorities).



Answer

The overall findings showed that harsher criminal justice sanctions had no deterrent effect on recidivism. On the contrary, punishment produced a slight (3%) increase in recidivism. These findings were consistent across subgroups of offenders (adult/youth, male/female, white/minority).

Compared to community sanctions, imprisonment was associated with an increase in recidivism. Further analysis of the incarceration studies found that longer sentences were associated with higher recidivism rates. Short sentences (less than six months) had no effect on recidivism but sentences of more than two years had an average increase in recidivism of seven per cent.

Intermediate sanctions demonstrated no relationship with recidivism. This category included studies of intensive supervision, fines, boot camps, electronic monitoring, scared straight, drug testing and restitution. Once again, no differential effects were found with respect to age group, gender and race.



Policy implications

Criminal justice policies that are based on the belief that "getting tough" on crime will reduce recidivism are without empirical support. Imprisonment and other criminal justice sanctions should be used for purposes other than reducing re-offending (e.g., incapacitation of dangerous offenders, denunciation of prohibited behaviour).
The lack of suppression effects across different offender groups indicates that applying sanctions selectively to specific groups is without merit. For example, imprisonment and intermediate sanctions were no more effective in reducing recidivism among youthful offenders than with adult offenders.
The ineffectiveness of punishment strategies to reduce recidivism further strengthens the need to direct resources to alternative approaches that are supported by evidence. Research based offender rehabilitation programs offer such a viable alternative for reducing recidivism.

pandora wrote:

polaris_x wrote:

so ... what about drunk drivers that kill people?

I know you didn't ask me but I'll take a stab at this... sorry Bronx brought out
my dark humor

I can not see how one can compare a maniac to someone who drinks and drives,
the leap there is too far for me to even compare.

I am not pro death penalty either I am a lock and key person.

Would I like to see those who drink and drive get help for their illness
not just dumped in a prison to learn and be branded the rest of their lives,
yes I would, but unfortunately they are guilty of a crime and their justice is jail time.

so a person who kills someone by drinking and driving has an illness and a person who has a mental health issue should be locked up for life. I know many people with mental health issues and with medication they can be a part of society such like someone who has a drinking problem.

"My son died this way to shed light on the issue," DeDelley told reporters. "I'm not stigmatizing mental issues. If he's doing well in a controlled environment with regularly administrated medications leave him there ... but freedom for him? I don't think that should ever be an option."

Given Canada's laws, I'm with the mom on this. That poor woman, and her son.

Jason P wrote:

Here is my rehabilitation plan for people that cut other people's heads off: A pair of concrete boots and swimming lessons.

Done and done.

so you have no problem in torturing I see.

Jason P wrote:

fife wrote:

so you have no problem in torturing I see.

I have problems with torture and don't think it should be used.

so you don't think drowning someone is torture?

I understand that this was a very gruesome crime but we must remember that this was found not be medical responsible for this crime.

the 2 real shames of this crime was how this person feel through the cracks of our supports systems and that this person was killed.

....peoples...in Canada our justice system is based on rehabilitation more than punishment...even some 1st degree killers get out at some point.

you may not like it...but that's how it is and there are very few if any places in Canada that I would not venture into...can you Americans say the same thing?

I have problems with torture and don't think it should be used.[/quote]
so you don't think drowning someone is torture?

I understand that this was a very gruesome crime but we must remember that this was found not be medical responsible for this crime.

the 2 real shames of this crime was how this person feel through the cracks of our supports systems and that this person was killed.[/quote]
I guess you do have a point there. How about I just leak carbon monoxide into their cell as they sleep?

:geek:



In all seriousness though, I would not allow a person who did something like this reintroduced into society. That's a 90 year game misconduct at a minimum.[/quote]

while I understand the point that people are making here. I do believe that the reason we have laws like this is that we believe that a person can't be found to be guilty of something which they had no control.

for example I remember meeting someone who as a very young kid had killed his infant brother by beating him. the court found that this kid was able to determine that he was wrong and felt that he should be put into a hospital.

the kids now much older is now out of the hospital and is living a productive life. We must understand that this person was very sick.

I should also say that they are not saying that he is going to be released into the society as a free person but will have people with him at all times.