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KARLA HOMOLKA - update on Charter of Rights

© Mary M. Alward

I know it is not my regular day to put out an article but this update on last week's article is something I feel is important. I would like to hear your views. My weekly article will be out on Saturday as usual.

On the 10th of March, I published an article on Karla Homolka. I was outraged when the Canadian government gave her a plea bargain which allowed her to be freed after 12 years in prison for her part in the torture and sex slayings of two young Ontario school girls and her own sister. All of the torture was recorded on videotape, which the prosecutor did not see until after the plea bargain had been made. Karla lied in order to save herself. When the tapes were finally viewed, they showed her as an active and willing participant. This is an update of that article. Maybe the Canadian government has finally come to its senses after so much public outcry. This woman will have literally gotten away with the murder of her baby sister if she is released in 2005.

Today's newspaper has an article "Charter no barrier to proposed sexual predator law: proponents.

It goes on to say that the propsal to keep Karla in prison is not as constitutionally flawed as it was first believed. The rights of offenders can be taken away under the Charter of Rights. Opponents feel it is unconstitutional to keep her in jail.

Kent Roach, a professor at the University of Toronto says that Section 1 of the Charter of Rights allows for "reasonable limit" on a persons rights if it is justified by a legitimate concern for public safety. A court will have to decide if Karla is classed as a public threat.

Everytime a dangerous offender is released from prison, it jeopardizes the interest balance between the offender and the public. Lawyer Tim Danson, who represents the families of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French states: "A sexual predator law may violate your Charter of Rights, but they're focusing on a small, small number of very dangerous sexual predators - psychopaths and sexual sadists." "It's a reasonable limit prescribed by law that's demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

This is the same principle that allows Canadian police officers to conduct spot checks at the side of the road for drunk drivers . This is a violation of a person's rights but one that's allowed to keep our roads free of drunk drivers.

Karla Homolka is both a psychopath and a sexual saddist. She willingly took