In the title above "Market" refers to the business of dealing with criminal behaviour and or minor infractions including speeding, jaywalking, trespassing etc. In other words does the judicial system from police, prosecutors, lawyers, judges etc. actively take steps to maintain a steady flow of business i.e. alleged lawbreakers, criminals, mental health challenged individuals? I'm asking these questions based upon decades of observation as well as the article in today's Waterloo Region Record titled "RIGHTS wronged". ........................................................................... First of all I am not a naive person. I have posted many articles here (and in the Waterloo Region Advocate) describing police misbehaviour, misconduct and more. I'm sure that I have also criticized the courts on occasion for egregious behaviour and or decisions. That said I am truly shocked by today's article which describes a Toronto Star investigation into major police breaches of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The article also describes and comments in detail about the failure of the courts and judicial system to follow up on decisions and scathing comments made by judges condemning the behaviour of police forces across Canada including St. Johns Nfld., Montreal, London, Toronto, Brantford, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. This failure to "follow up" simply refers to the obvious and clear need to ensure that notice of these serious Charter breaches are sent to the specific police forces involved. These notices (and lack thereof) are needed for educational and training purposes such that as has been identified, police officers involved do not repeat the same behaviours simply out of ignorance of the law. .................................................................... Let me be clear. This article in today's Record does not come to the tentative conclusion in my title above. I have long wondered if the war on drugs etc. has been at least partially motivated by a desire by the entire judicial process to maintain a high rate of business. Imagine if our courts were grossly underbooked. Imagine if our police forces were even more bored than they already are. Imagine if retiring judges were not immediately replaced with new judicial appointments by our idiot politicians. Another example of over policing and poor laws would be the criminalization of homosexuality prior to about 1965 in this country. Could one even ask if the current federal assault on legitimate gun ownership in Canada is an attempt to criminalize law abiding citizens with firearms licenses who have had the temerity to have legally purchased handguns, rifles or shotguns in some instances many decades ago? Laws that retroactively criminalize perfectly normal and accepted behaviour such as hunting and target shooting, plinking etc. are an invitation to non-compliance hence giving police and courts more to do. Perhaps to make up for lost "business" by the decriminalization of drug use including marijuana. ............................................................................................. Again let me be clear. The Record's article actually overall is in my opinion, complimentary of the many judges across Canada who are openly and publicly in court condemning illegal police breaches of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Those judges deserve praise for their stands. Similarly in the cases of judicial decisions throwing out or reducing criminal charges in cases of Charter breaches by police; it is absolutely imperative that both the police forces involved as well as the individual officers involved be made aware of those decisions. Otherwise how can they not help repeating them if they are never advised or retrained?
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