Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 14, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba A12 Manitoba Winnipeg repress. Com Winnipeg free press monday August 14, 2006 204 269 4685 t Here is no sentence a judge can impose that would fully assuage the feelings of the victims their families and the Community at Large in the Case of my client Peter Whitmore. Every paedophile leaves in his or her Wake varying amounts of sorrow grief anger fear and frustration. In All cases Young lives Are shattered or ruined and families Are devastated and torn apart. I suppose its a Normal sentiment to wish the perpetrator is locked up forever tortured and even killed. The imposition of sentence however is governed by statute and fixed principle not by emotional reaction. It does not measure the value of the victims either in absolute or in relative terms and it is not revenge. The judge must impose a fit sentence no More and no less. In this Case the court will be asked to determine if paedophiles detained indefinitely should be managed by the Federal correctional services of Canada or the provincial ministry of health in Saskatchewan. I will remind the court of the Fate of Joseph Fredricks when he was sent to prison rather than a Hospital and argue that the dangerous offender designation is nothing More than a backdoor method of achieving capital punishment. Fredricks a convicted paedophile was on parole from prison when he killed 11 year old Christopher Stephenson in 1998. In the United states paedophiles Are diverted to the mental health regimes. They Are not criminalized. The american sexually violent predator Laws in the United states Are civil not criminal mental health enactments. Its a myth that other countries imprison their paedophiles in penitentiaries and criminalize the mentally ill. Perhaps its time to do the same. Opinion Daniel j. Brodsky by Alexandra Paul a lawyers suggestion that Peter Whitmore should be treated in an institution for the mentally ill and not sent to prison provoked Strong reactions yesterday. Lawyer Dan Brodsky is latest Effort to defend Whitmore is a Clever Legal manoeuvre to keep his client out of jail said Roz Prober a Winnipeg based International child rights advocate. She said Whitmore belongs in a jail cell not a Hospital bed. The notorious paedophile surrendered to authorities after a stand off aug. 1 at an abandoned Saskatchewan farmhouse where he was holding two boys. Whitmore faces charges of kidnapping sexual assault causing bodily harm and forcible confinement. I dont think that approach is going to work said Prober yesterday when she heard about the proposed insanity defence. She co founded beyond Borders an advocacy group that runs campaigns to end child sex exploitation in 70 countries around the world. And one prominent Winnipeg lawyer admitted he Shook his head when he first heard Brodsky was arguing paedophilia is a mental illness. I dont know where hers coming from the lawyer said asking not to be quoted by name. To try that defence youve got to line up a psychiatrist who will say he the accused is not criminally responsible. Brodsky argues in opinion piece in the free press that sexual urges to molest children Are evidence of mental illness. To throw him in jail is an act of revenge not Justice Brodsky says. The lawyer goes on to say Canada should be guided by the example set by the United states and take a Lead from their Justice system. In the United states paedophiles Are diverted to the mental health regimes. They Are not criminalized said Brodsky. Perhaps its time to do the same. While it May be True that paedophiles Are sick when they commit crimes they have to be treated like criminals Prober countered. The test for any judge on the Bench in Canada in this Case is simple she said. In the courts the test is whether you knew right from wrong and no lawyer can prove that he Whitmore is mentally ill because of the level of deception he went through to do it. He knew what he was doing Prober said. Authorities believe Whitmore lured one boy from his Home in Winnipeg by playing on the 14 year Olds weakness to engage in risky behaviour. Then he snatched a 10 year old boy in Saskatchewan possibly using the Winnipeg boy As a Pawn in the second abduction. That level of deception to cover everything up clearly shows he knew what he was doing a a Prober said. White ores next court appearance is aug. 24 in Regina. Justice no place for emotion in imposing fit sentence u. S. Diverts paedophiles to mental health regimes observers dismiss Whitmore insanity defence ramp handout Peter Whitmore paedophile who is contemplating an insanity defence ;