Sometimes the answer is nose-to-nose staring you in the face. So obvious, failing to see it requires inattentional or even wilful blindness.

During a press conference Thursday, B.C.害羞草研究所檚 attorney general and its public safety minister rolled out an underwhelming pseudo-solution to the seemingly everlasting problem of criminal recidivism in this province, against the backdrop of some 200 people generating 11,000 害羞草研究所渋nteractions害羞草研究所� with police in one year.

What害羞草研究所檚 the plan? They害羞草研究所檝e hired two experts to study what should be done to nip this decades-long problem of prolific offending in the bud and reveal within 120 days the 害羞草研究所渘ecessary solutions.害羞草研究所�

Ironically, the mayor of Kelowna identified at that same presser that the problem is B.C.害羞草研究所檚 害羞草研究所渃atch and release cycle害羞草研究所� of the criminal justice system 害羞草研究所渂uilding up over time.害羞草研究所� This involves career criminals 害羞草研究所渨ho are too often released without conditions and without consequences only to be arrested again, sometimes even the same day. Their repeated and constant offending requires stronger consequence.害羞草研究所�

Give the man a cigar.

As one who害羞草研究所檚 been reporting on crime in Surrey for more than 30 years, I can tell you we could wallpaper the walls of the legislative buildings in Victoria with pages from similar reports, commissions, committee findings, studies, papers, yadda.

害羞草研究所淰iolence of any kind is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,害羞草研究所� Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth sternly said. Again, yadda.

Simplistically, it害羞草研究所檚 tempting to suggest that repeat offenders who chronically wreak mayhem upon innocent lives be dispatched north to Ellesmere Island to count snowflakes. But that won害羞草研究所檛 happen.

Just last week, I wrote a story about a guy getting sentenced to 3.5 years for sexual assault and forcible confinement who already had 46 criminal convictions to his name.

Let害羞草研究所檚 get down to brass tacks, as they say. Are repeat offenders born, or made? Like Pavlov害羞草研究所檚 dog, criminal recidivists are trained to know that despite all the finger-wagging and stern admonishments enunciated by judge after judge, this forgiving criminal justice system of ours, predicated on the concept that human beings are inherently good, keeps reinforcing the message that somehow society has failed the offenders rather than the message that they themselves are personally accountable for the choices they make.

And therein lies the magic concept, which seems to vanish like mist whenever a politician draws near: Personal responsibility.

Sure judges are bound by legislation and guided by precedent, but they also have some discretion, particularly as each criminal case presents its own mitigating and aggravating factors.

When a prolific offender comes before a judge for a ninth, thirtieth, or forty-ninth second chance, a judge must be ready to say no, not this time, not today. No more.

Prolific offenders need to be made to feel the hair stand on the back of their neck 害羞草研究所� a shiver up their spine 害羞草研究所� by brave judges who, at long last and in no uncertain terms, force these recidivists to confront the concept that the choices they make will result in dire consequence. That the jig is up, it害羞草研究所檚 time to pay the piper, that the proverbial excrement has hit the fan.

The answer is reinforcing the concept of personal responsibility. We don害羞草研究所檛 need another study to know that.

tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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