Latimer paroled

I suspect many Canadians feel as I do: that in taking the life of his daughter, whatever his intentions, he committed a terrible crime - but that he poses no threat to public safety, and that he's several orders of magnitude less dangerous than many people put back on the streets every day.

Robert Latimer is to be released from jail as soon as a bed can be found for him in a halfway house. In an unexpected decision released Wednesday, the Appeal Division of the National Parole Board reversed a December ruling by the Pacific regional office of the board denying Latimer day parole.

"He's going to be released in the next few days," said Nadine Archambault-Chapleau, a spokeswoman for the National Parole Board in Ottawa.

[...]

Laney Bryenton, executive director of the B.C. Association for Community Living, said that her group accepts the appeal decision, but continues "to be concerned that Mr. Latimer has shown no remorse."

Ms. Bryenton is also worried that Latimer has chosen Ottawa to live in a halfway house that he can lobby the federal government over the issue of euthanasia.

Bryenton said that Latimer continues to argue that "he shouldn't have gone to jail and that what he did was right - and we take profound exception to that."

His lack of remorse is disturbing, but I still prefer it to the common strategy of simply telling the parole board what they want to hear.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at February 28, 2008 08:41 AM