By Julie Gauthier
The first conviction under the newly established Christopher’s Law highlights the need for a national sex-offender registry. A male offender was sentenced to 30 days in jail for providing false information to the police.
Christopher’s Law was sparked by the 1988 murder of 11-year-old Christopher Stephenson. Joseph Fredericks, a convicted pedophile on federal statutory release, was responsible for the murder.
The law was proclaimed last April 23. It requires convicted sex offenders to register with their local police service within 15 days of their release from prison, and anytime they change their address.
The offenders must also annually provide police with updated photos and specific information on the crimes they were convicted for.
Since April, approximately 90 per cent of convicted sex offenders in the province have registered. According to the office of the Solicitor General of Ontario, that number continues to rise.
Ontario is the first province in Canada to implement this type of registry. The federal government needs to follow its lead in order to make the system more effective, and to show that it will continue to hold sex offenders responsible for their actions. Tighter sentences have shown to have more impact in the justice system, and this legislation will help provide the impact.
A national registry would make it easier for police to track convicted sex offenders. Last year, Ontario offered software to any government in Canada interested in setting up a registry. So far, the federal government hasn’t bit.
The registry specifically helps the police quickly investigate sex-related crimes, as well as keep track of and locate sex offenders.
Statistics show that rapid response time is critical in child abduction investigations, and that police will most likely find a child that is still alive, within the first couple of hours after the abduction. In cases where a child was murdered, 44 per cent were dead within one hour of the abduction, 74 per cent within three hours, and 91 per cent within 24 hours.
Religious groups and human rights activists are critical of the legislation. They say that the mandatory registration and information impede the rehabilitation of a convicted offender.
These arguments have merit. The 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the rights and freedoms of all citizens in Canada, regardless if an individual has been convicted of an offense.
Section 15 of the Charter specifically looks at equality rights and 15 (1) notes that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the equal benefit of the law without any type of discrimination.
The conviction handed down on Jan. 8 also has the chance of getting appealed due to these rights.
But, the information stored in the database is essential to providing community safety and the contents are not publicly accessible.
Ontario has shown that it feels the safety of the community should come before the rights of an individual.
The federal government needs to back up this support for the legislation to help strengthen the impact.