The term cause and effect comes from the reality that one action or event often has the result of causing another action or event to occur. The two are then seen as being related.
Two stories this past week may have seemed to be isolated occurrences but a closer look leaves you wondering if they are not in fact tied together in a cause and effect relationship.
The first story was that of an individual who had been convicted of 77 charges of graffiti vandalism. The 23 year old male, Dustin Fenby, had vandalized 77 separate properties. It wasn’t the first time he had been in court either, having many previous convictions for graffiti and for breaches of court orders. Many Manitobans were outraged when, for being convicted of 77 separate incidents of vandalism, Mr. Fenby received a conditional sentence, which means he will essentially have a curfew.
Interestingly, the judge in the case indicated that she was reluctant to give a house arrest sentence but was ultimately swayed by the fact that the recommendation for the light sentence came as a result of a plea bargain between the government prosecutor and the defense.
The second story appeared four days later when the association that represents government prosecutors indicated that they were working under extreme conditions brought on by a shortage of prosecutors in the province. This itself wasn’t new, it’s a problem that the NDP government has known about for years and has taken insufficient steps to address. What was new was how the spokesperson for the government prosecutors, Lisa Carson, described the consequences of high workloads for prosecutors.
She indicated that many prosecutors in Manitoba are dealing with at least 400 cases at any one time and that as a result, it was likely there are people who are free in our communities who should really be behind bars. That may be as a result of an inability to move cases to court in a timely manner. And, it could also call into question plea bargain recommendations such as the one that was given to Dustin Fenby even though he had vandalized 77 properties.
With the staggering workload that our government prosecutors have, and given the comments from the spokesperson for government prosecutors, it is reasonable to ask what impact it is having in plea bargains that are seen even by judges as lenient. Is there a cause and effect relationship?
Ultimately, the justice system is like a chain that relies upon every link in that chain being strong. When that isn’t the case, it ruins the integrity of the entire chain. Having prosecutors that deal with unmanageable workloads puts our communities at risk. It’s just another area of the justice system the NDP government has failed to properly address.
