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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 23:46:41
From: "chn@intergate.bc.ca" <chn@intergate.bc.ca>
Subject: Latimer sentence sends a chilling message 


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                               December 4, 1997

                           - COLUMN -

Latimer sentence sends a chilling message

by Jennifer Robinson, The Gazette



Let's be honest. If Tracy Latimer had been a normal 12-year-old child in
pain, instead of a severely
handicapped one, no judge would have said that her murder was the act of a
caring and
compassionate father.

Yet that is how Saskatchewan judge Ted Noble described Robert Latimer
earlier this week when
he granted him a rare constitutional exemption in sentencing him for the
1993 murder of his daughter
Tracy.

Instead of a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years,
Judge Noble sentenced
Latimer to a year in jail and 12 months of house arrest.

"We have that rare act of homicide that was committed for caring and
altruistic reasons," Noble
ruled. "That is why, for want of a better term, this is called
compassionate homicide. (Would a life
sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years) constitute cruel and
unusual punishment? After much
reflection, I have concluded that the answer to that question is yes."

If it's true that murders reflect the values of societies in which they
take place, then this one carries a
chilling, frightening message. The message is that the lives of the
handicapped, the most vulnerable
among us, are not valued as much as the lives of healthy people.

No amount of sympathy and understanding for Latimer or his motives and
there has been plenty in
the media changes the fact that he deliberately and methodically killed his
daughter.


Most Canadians believe, as did a Senate committee in 1995 on assisted
suicide, that there exists
room for the notion of compassionate homicide. If a terminally ill person
makes an informed request
to die prematurely to avoid the pain of natural death, as was the case with
Sue Rodriguez, then many
believe that there should be a way to respect their wishes.

But what happened to Tracy Latimer had nothing to do with that notion of
compassionate homicide.

Tracy was not terminally ill and had expressed no wish to die. The fact
that her murderer claimed to
be motivated by love does not dilute the gravity of the crime.

What troubles many people about Robert Latimer, including his jury and
Judge Noble, is not the
crime. What troubles them is the minimum 10 years in jail. For many, it
would have been too harsh
compared with what other murderers get. They may be right.

Latimer is not the first person to kill a handicapped child. But if the
crime is not unusual, the charges
he faced were. Cases of this type one can argue about the correctness of
this practice often involve
a manslaughter charge, which unlike second-degree murder does not carry a
minimum jail term.

An example? A Quebec woman, Danielle Blais, pleaded guilty to manslaughter
this summer and was
sentenced to 23 months in a halfway house for killing her 6-year-old
autistic son. She held him under
water in a bathtub until he drowned.


This fall, a Nova Scotia prosecutor said that Dr. Nancy Morrison should not
be charged with
murder in the death of her patient but rather with manslaughter because it
carries no minimum penalty
and allows the judge more discretion in sentencing.

Perhaps another prosecutor would have charged Latimer with manslaughter,
although the lesser
charge would have been hard to justify given that he confessed to planning
the murder for days.

In the light of sentences in other murder cases, it's easy to understand
why many think 10 years is
too much. As Judge Noble said, Latimer poses no threat to society and
jailing him will only hurt his
family.

But this case is not only about Mr. Latimer and how he is punished. It's
also about the value that we,
as a society, place on life.

There are an estimated 4,000 people in this country just like Tracy
Latimer. Vulnerable people who
can't walk or talk, suffering from cerebral palsy. Some even live with pain.

What does Judge Noble's ruling say about their lives?

- Jennifer Robinson is associate editor of The Gazette. You can email
Jennifer Robinson at:
jrobinso@thegazette.southam.ca











QUOTING ~~~~QUOTING~~~~~QUOTING~~~~~~

QUOTE OF THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 7TH - 1997
Faye Girsh, executive director of the Denver-based Hemlock Society USA,
which believes in a
right to die, said she was 'amazed' at the decision [of the Clinton
Administration to urge the Supreme
Court to reject the notion that the Constitution provides a right to die].
If anything, the right to die is
even more fundamental than the right to an abortion, she said."
--Gannett News Service, 11/17/96 
[ Gosh, who would have thought it so? (C.E., CHN) ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHERYL  ECKSTEIN
Founder & President, CHN
NEWSBYTES researched reports compliments of CHN
please report any problems to CHN: chn@intergate.bc.ca
_____________________________________________________
The Compassionate Healthcare Network (CHN)
Canada's International Anti-euthanasia Network - CHN is an
affiliated member of The World Federation of Doctors Who  Respect Human Life
*  *  *  *  *
Address  "CHN DIGEST ONLINE" at:
http://www.chninternational.com/
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