National Post Editorial: Why was this man still free?
Date: Aug 2, 2006 8:11 AM
PUBLICATION: National Post
DATE: 2006.08.02
EDITION: National
SECTION: Editorials
PAGE: A12
SOURCE: National Post
WORD COUNT: 694

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Why was this man still free?

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Ordinarily, we’re skeptical of laws made in the immediate wake of a
sensational crime: At such junctures, rational decision-making typically
takes a back seat to public anger. But the circumstances surrounding the
abduction of two children in Saskatchewan are so outrageous that legal
reform can’t come quickly enough.

It is a scandal that Peter Whitmore was out walking the street, and
entirely predictable that innocents would come to harm because of it. In
1993, Whitmore was convicted of abduction and five sexual offences
involving four Toronto boys. Subsequently, he abducted an eight-year-old
Guelph girl and took her to Toronto. In 2000, he was found in a Toronto
motel with a 13-year-old boy. And not two years later, he was found in
the company of a five-year-old boy, a parole violation that prompted him
to flee to British Columbia. Found in his possession at the time was a
“rape kit” containing latex gloves, duct tape, lubricant and zip-tie
handcuffs.

Any of his major offences on their own should have placed Whitmore
behind bars for many years. But even cumulatively, they failed to land
him a lengthy sentence. Inexplicably, he served just a year and four
months for the offences involving the four boys; it took him just nine
days following his release to commit his next one. For that, he was
sentenced to four-and-a-half years — his longest conviction to date,
since he received only a year for the one in which he was found in the
motel room with the 13-year-old. By last year, he was living more or
less free in Chilliwack, B.C. — then took off for a supposed three-day
trip to Alberta from which he never returned.

As with most pedophiles, it was painfully obvious that Whitmore would
reoffend each time he was left to his own devices. Indeed, it has been
reported that Whitmore himself reportedly told authorities 13 years ago
that his affinity for children could cause “serious harm” if he wasn’t
stopped. This is a typical pattern with hardcore pedophiles, whose
pathologies are generally regarded by psychiatrists as entirely
incurable — absent extraordinary methods such as chemical castration.

And so it is not just Whitmore who was apparently responsible for the
recent abductions of 10-year-old Zachary Miller of Saskatchewan and
14-year-old Jordan Bruyere of Manitoba; provided that police are right
that it was Whitmore, then the entire justice system also bears
responsibility.

Happily, Miller was found alive yesterday, in an abandoned farmhouse 60
kilometres from his home; we can only hope that Bruyere will be found
soon as well. But that does not change the lessons learned from this
experience, and particularly from Whitmore’s record.

The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, along with other
groups, is lobbying for an expansion of the “dangerous offender”
classification that jails chronic offenders indefinitely beyond the
expiration of their prison terms. Yesterday, federal Justice Minister
Vic Toews expressed enthusiasm for the same idea. But in this case, it
shouldn’t have been necessary: Whitmore’s crimes were of such a nature
that normal criminal sentencing procedures should have landed him in
jail for the rest of his life.

That Whitmore was sentenced so lightly after each of his convictions
suggests that the system simply fails to take crimes against children
seriously enough, and still does not recognize the wealth of evidence
showing that pedophiles will almost inevitably reoffend. Consequently,
minimum sentences for crimes against children need to be significantly
boosted, and judges should be instructed to provide the longest ones
possible under the law.

Past history suggests that even if Whitmore is convicted for abducting
and/or abusing Miller and Bruyere, he will be back on the street in a
few years. And then — surprise, surprise — more children will go
missing. Let’s hope lawmakers and judges prevent this from happening.
The fate of at-risk children, as well as anguished parents, rests on
their initiative.