Time to question our justice system

When a woman goes to the cops claiming her abusive ex-boyfriend is stalking her, you would think the cops would listen. When it is both she and her mother reporting stalking and abusive behaviour, you would think the domestic violence unit would consider the case a little “higher-risk” than they did.

But because they didn’t, Lacey Jones-McKnight is dead.

This was a 20-year old woman who was found dead in the back of her abusive ex-boyfriend’s car in Calgary, Alberta. She and her mother apparently made repeated reports to the police that just weren’t listened to, though the Calgary police claim to have a very “effective” domestic violence unit who usually respond to cases in a timely basis.

We are also being told to mourn for Lacey instead of questioning the effectiveness of the police in Calgary and the domestic violence unit. But part of mourning for Lacey is naturally going to lead to questions. Why was nothing done when both she and her mother were reporting this dangerous behaviour? The Calgary police claim they had no indication the situation was escalating like that. But stalking behaviour IS an indication of such escalation. That same behaviour led to my mother’s abusive ex burning down our house without a second thought of who might have been inside.

It is an example of the sad reality that domestic violence simply isn’t prioritized enough in Canada’s criminal justice system. The system can lock up potheads and drug addicts for a MINIMUM of seven years and yet pedophiles go away for only two years (Graham James) and abusers who beat their partners can go away for as little as three to six months. They get charged with assault instead of actual domestic violence charges.

A so-called domestic violence unit that fails to prevent the death of a young girl who has repeatedly reported her abuser’s behaviour is not a very effective unit and we NEED to question why they are not able to prevent such tragedies. Because now; because they didn’t listen to the pleas and cries, a mother is without her daughter forever. Tell me, how effective is that?

And why is he only charged with SECOND-DEGREE murder? When an abuser kills his partner, it is deliberate and likely pre-meditated, which makes it cold-blooded, first degree murder. He was moving the body, likely in attempts to dump it, which means he knows damn well what he did was wrong.

It takes the tragic and heart wrenching death of an abuse victim before the cops step back and say “Oops, that was a little more high-risk than we thought.” But “oops” isn’t good enough. The excuses aren’t good enough. There are no excuses. The justice system has their priorities completely backwards and that is why this happened. Potheads are not the danger to society. Violent offenders who repeatedly stalk, hurt and inflict pain on their victims are the danger to society. Abusers do not stop their behaviour. There is no rehab for them. So why is the focus of the justice system not being put on them? Because drug addicts are easier to catch; it takes less actual WORK?

What’s done is done now and there is no undoing that horrific damage. But something can be learned from this. If you never before questioned how effective the justice system really is at protecting us, it is time to start. I have seen how the justice system fails abuse victims. In many cases, there has to be a death before the case will be considered high risk. Until then, the cops feign no idea of anything dangerous happening and set their priorities elsewhere, publicizing such things as if they really are taking dangerous offenders off the streets. But these offenders aren’t on the streets. They infest our homes, our families, our friends’ lives, and destroy people. They molest children, beat their partners, and burn houses. They kill the people they are supposed to love and care about. Only then does the “justice” system care, because it was too easy to catch the abuser after he was reported to the cops by her friends that she had been killed and was in the back of his car. They only care when it’s easy. But it’s time for them to toughen up and stop taking the easy way out.

There are no excuses.

 

Read more about this case: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Police+chief+says+officers+didn+know+murder+victim+high+risk+situation/7466552/story.html