Of Victims and Justice

When Vic Toews  slagged the opposition for favouring convicts over "real victims" for having the temerity to criticize the government's response to the abominable treatment of Ashley Smith at the hands of her jailers he was merely continuing the Conservative habit of sloganeering over action.

Whether they cry "respect for the troops" while denying them  proper care at every turn or "respect for taxpayers" while skewing the economy toward those at the the top and mainly foreign corporations,  the Conservatives will belch these slogans ad nauseum while in fact doing the opposite in most cases.

Their respect for victims meme is merely another piece of this vile but effective strategy , after all who is against treating victims of crime with respect, I suspect no one. Indeed we need to do a better job of helping victims of crime whether it be counseling or income support while they recover and most assuredly we must do a better job of keeping them informed of the status of their cases, no victim should be surprised by what they read in the paper.

Instead what we get are draconian policies that will in the end only create more criminals and more violent ones at that, meaning an ever greater number of and perhaps increasingly traumatized victims. The best way in my books to show respect for victims is to reduce crime, particularly violent crime,  after all the thing every victim of crime wishes for the most is that they weren't victimized in the first place. Instead all they'll get from this government is more chest thumping and slogans. but no real respect or action.