Dear Editor,
The guest opinion column stimulated lively discussion in our house. Judges have to follow the law when determining bail. It referred to Bill C-75, and section 11 e of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as the imperative judges must follow in determining bail conditions for convicted murderers and gangsters such as Tyler Jack Newton and Clayton Eheler.
MLA Karin Kirpatrick deserves praise for bringing Newton鈥檚 release on bail to the attention of the public during question period. The Crown counsel prosecuting Eheler also deserves our gratitude for opposing bail for Eheler, even though it did no good.
Keeping convicted killers and gangsters off the street seems like a good way to make our society safer. Judges need to be directed to consider the risk to the public before allowing bail, and setting bail conditions.
Judges are directed by the law. We need to change the law, and perhaps the Constitution to affect this change. How this can be accomplished is unfathomable to the ordinary citizen riding in the rear of the Clapham omnibus. Premier David Eby ought to know how laws are changed. Complaining doesn鈥檛 help.
Things will change. It would be best if legislators changed the laws to better protect society, before citizens abandon hope in our justice system, and seek protection and retribution by illegal means, or begin to see the hazards as acceptable, and the victims as mere tragic statistics.
Richard Penner, 91原创 City
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