They Freely Walk Among Us

Just before the weekend, former Saskatchewan politician Colin Thatcher was granted unescorted passes to visit his family for 3 days. Thatcher was convicted in the early 80s for the murder of his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson, although he has consistently maintained his innocence.

Unlike other cases, there is no noticable outcry over this. The issue of crime and punishment raises its head in Canada from time to time, often when crime is in the news and the system is perceived as being too lenient with criminals. During the last federal election, the major political parties emphasised tough-on-crime measures such as manditory minimum sentences and reverse-onus bail for gun crimes, while paying lip service to crime prevention. Last year, people were outraged over the release of Karla Homolka, even though she had served the full term of her 12 year sentence. And in the spring time, the nation was horrified at the killings of 4 Mounties in Alberta, and people became outraged after finding out that the suspect in the case, James Roszko, had a long history of charges and convictions.

There are several other cases where people feel the justice system failed to adequately deal with criminals. In many of those cases, like the last 2 I mentioned, those feelings are justified. But when you look at those cases, the people involved don't appear to be prominent in any other way, except that they are in the news because of the horrible crimes they committed. Stated differently, had they not committed their crimes, their names would probably not be nearly as well-known as they are. Thatcher, on the other hand, was a figure in the cabinet of the Devine government in Saskatchewan and son of former Premier Ross Thatcher. He was in a position of power and influence, even if for a brief period of time, and was known before the brutal murder of his ex-wife.

Could this explain the lack of outrage over his release? Has the passage of more than 20 years caused the impact to fade? Why is it that people accept allowing Thatcher some freedom, when they don't accept it in other cases?