It makes no sense. We allow pedophiles to roam free while we lock up our children instead. Time and again, Canadian judges hand down insignificant sentences for the most heinous of crimes.
Nicholas Dean Sennie raped and choked a five-year-old girl with such brutality, I wept while reading the report.
The victim’s emotional scars will probably never heal, but her attacker will likely be back out on the streets before this young girl is even finished high school.
Sennie is not a first-time offender. He has a prior conviction of sexual assault, but the courts saw fit to give him another opportunity to reoffend.
For his part, Sennie thinks a six-year sentence is fair. I wonder if the little girl would agree.
He blames alcohol for contributing to his violent actions that night, but that doesn’t explain how countless people are able to drink excessively and yet never lay a hand on a child. Ever.
In the same week, I read about a Saskatchewan man who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. His punishment? Two years’ house arrest. That’s right—no jail time.
And I thought judges were supposed to be smart.
A sobering StatsCan report released just days ago shows that 60% of sexual assaults reported to police in 2003 involved a child or youth. This, despite the fact children and youth account for only 21% of the population. You do the math.
Although many parents keep a close eye on young kids, it’s girls aged 11 to 17 who face the highest risk of sexual assault.
So just when mom and dad decide to give their adolescent daughter more freedom, that’s the very age most pedophiles seem to prefer.
Unfortunately, ours is a judicial system built on rehabilitation rather than retribution. Although therapy is an essential component of many sentences, there are offenders who do not merit or benefit from treatment.
If a convicted car thief returns to the streets, it’s not particularly distressing. No one is going to lose any sleep over it (except perhaps from noisy car alarms).
But to allow a pedophile back onto the street, knowing that there is a high probability that the felon will reoffend, is, frankly, criminal.
I’m not willing to play Russian roulette with the lives of children.
Dr. Peter Collins, a Canadian expert in sexually deviant behaviour, offered this assessment of pedophilia during a court hearing:
“With pedophiles, it’s a well-ingrained erotic preference. You can treat them, but I’m never going to cure them. Their sexual needs are such that they’re going to continue to offend.”
So why let them out?
Surely their crimes warrant lifelong incarceration (at the very least).
Someone who sexually abuses a child does not deserve a second or third chance.
The prevalence of child abuse victims is staggering. According to a publication published in the Harvard Mental Health Letter, “20% of women and 10% of men say they have been touched sexually by adults before puberty.”
As citizens and voters, we need to send a loud and clear message that we will no longer tolerate lenient sentences, especially when it comes to child abuse.
The words of celebrated politician and philosopher Edmund Burke still ring true today: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Make sure we do something.
By Lydia Lovric
Lydia Lovric is a regular columnist at the Winnipeg Sun. Her column is posted here with the express permission of Lydia Lovric. See her Web site at www.lydialovric.com | Email.
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