29 05 2003
“Holly’s Law” doesn’t fix the problem.
While it’s considered likely that one of the current sex offenders in the neighbourhood is the culprit, it has yet to be proven.
The proposed “Holly’s Law” does NOTHING to add to Social Services (Family Therapy, etc.), and instead only solves the problem after the fact.
With every sex offender, there is a first victim. I do not see how signing the petition will help prevent such atrocities in the future. Money has been taken out of prevention (like Family Therapy), and put into punishment and post-incident therapy (like the Penetanguishene super-jail and Women’s Shelters). Because there are no numbers to prove how many have been coached to deal with their problems without resorting to such severe action, people would rather see money put into jails… something with hard numbers.
Those organizing “Holly’s Law” have a powerful voice in the GTA, Ontario, and to some degree, Canada. It is essential that they reflect on prevention of first victims, as much if not more than subsequent ones.
I respect them for their efforts, but I can not sign the petition until I believe in it - and I am asking the same of you.
This is not a popular opinion, but I believe that it is a sane one. I also believe it to be more sober than what is currently outlined in “Holly’s Law”.
