Isn't this just how stupid the justice system is in Canada,people should be afraid especially for their sons.
The youngest multiple murderer in Canada moved a step closer to being released into the community Monday in Medicine Hat as a Court of Queen’s Bench justice granted her limited open custody at her second scheduled sentence review.
Justice Scott Brooker’s decision will allow the now 16-year-old convicted of killing Marc, Debra and Jacob Richardson to work and receive treatment outside the secured detention facility at Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. Any visits off the hospital grounds would require approval from Solicitor General Fred Lindsay’s office.
The girl, 12 at the time of the killings and who cannot be identified due to her age, was committed in Nov. 2007 to a 10-year Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision (IRCS) sentence — the maximum sentence under youth law. The teenager and her boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, were both convicted of three counts of first-degree murder for the April 2006 slayings of the Richardson family in Medicine Hat.
The girl appeared via closed-circuit TV from the Edmonton Youth Correction facility wearing dark-coloured clothing and flanked by the two members of the team that oversees her treatment.
Crown prosecutor Ramona Robins did not oppose open custody, but asked Brooker to clarify whether all of the dozen goals for rehabilitation set out in his original sentencing should be satisfied before granting a change.
Of particular concern was the completion of the eleventh goal, which requires that the girl understands the process that led up to the murders and the impact of her crime.
“When I review the (girl’s psychiatric) report, I don’t see that goal being achieved as well as perhaps other ones have,” said Robins.
See Murder, page A2
Brooker referred the concern to the psychiatrist in charge of the girl’s treatment, Dr. Vinesh Gupta.
“In some ways we feel that we will not be able to achieve that goal, specifically, in its entirety,” Gupta told the court.
He went on to say, “the expectation is not that she will fully achieve that before she is discharged but we will continue to work on it.”
Gupta added the teen has made significant improvements in that area over the last six months.
The court also heard from the psychiatrist the teen has been meeting with family members in the last few months which has also been beneficial. Details of those meetings are contained in the psychiatric report that has not been released to the public.
Robins was granted her request to increase the frequency of sentence reviews from one a year to every six months.
Outside the courthouse, the girl’s lawyer Katherin Beyak told reporters the granting of open custody will allow her client to gradually integrate back into society.
When asked if the girl still poses a threat to the community, Beyak said the risk is manageable.
“That is why (the treatment team) has suggested the open custody setting.”
Robins told reporters her concerns about the change in custody status were addressed but she is still troubled by the girl’s lack of recognition of her role in the murders.
Asked whether the teen will be able to be rehabilitated, Robins responded, “I believe that of every crime I have prosecuted, the person can be rehabilitated if they choose to.”
The teen is scheduled to be released into the community to serve the remaining four years of her sentence on Nov. 7, 2011, likely beginning that stage of her sentence in a halfway house.
Steinke, the girl’s co-conspirator in the slayings, was ordered to served three concurrent life sentences for the killings and will not be eligible for parole until April 2031.
http://www.medicinehatnews.com/content/view/151868/65/
