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Sex crime convicts should stay in jail

So the RCMP are warning the public of the release onto our streets of another dangerous sex offender, James Hill. This time the warning is directed to Red Deer.

So the RCMP are warning the public of the release onto our streets of another dangerous sex offender, James Hill.

This time the warning is directed to Red Deer. Hill reportedly “has a lengthy criminal history of sex crimes against young females and reportedly is at high risk to re-offend and poses a considerable threat in the community.”

It is an extreme lapse of the travesty of justice when a judicial system sets out to protect the criminal rather than the victim. It has been pointed out that, because of the extremely high recidivism rate of such deplorable crimes — most all have committed more than one such offence — dangerous sex offenders should be jailed for life. Webster’s has defined ‘recidivism’ as habitual relapse as in crime.

What sort of message is being sent out to other habitual dangerous sex offenders who have been waiting in the wings to see the outcome of another of their ilk who has so offended in the past?

The RCMP says Hill is to abide by a six-month probation period to prevent him from going to parks and pools where there are kids under 14, from working with children and communicating with children over the Internet. Are taxpayers to pay for the 24-hour daily vigilance watching over Hill? With his picture in the Red Deer paper and also online, he’s probably long gone to a new locale, attempting to remain unknown.

We are unlike the United States where sex offender registries are available at all times online. They are meant to allow the public to find the location of dangerous sex offenders. A brief sample of information for a registry list includes:

• Name of anybody convicted as a dangerous sex offender,

• any change in the residence of such an offender, regardless of where the conviction occurred,

• the whereabouts of such a convict who moves to a new locale for the purpose of employment or for any other reason for a period exceeding l4 days,

• any person who harbours a dangerous sex offender in helping him to elude a law enforcement officer, is guilty of an offence.

• All those registered are to pay a $250 registration fee annually.

Could it be that dangerous sex offenders in Canada are escaping life sentences because the jails are over-crowded? A life sentence just might be a good deterrent.

Audrey Jensen, Red Deer, Alta.

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