Outrage over Stephenville murderer's parole shows flaws in justice system: lawyer

As a victim's family andthe wider community in Stephenvillegrapple with the release of amurderer, an expert in prisoner rights and sentencing says the justice system hasshortcomings in how both victims and offenders are treated.

Ann Lucas's family has spoken out against the recent parole of the man who beat her to deathin her own apartment in 2003.Robert Hilroy Leggewas sentenced to life in prison with no chance at parole for 18 years, but ended up paroled in February, not quite 16 years after the murder.

"Weshouldn't have to live in fear. We didn't do anything wrong. We're not the criminal," Lucas's niece, Tracy McIsaac, said last week. "It's not a safe person to have out there."

That vivid emotion and deep pain speaks to what AdelinaIftene calls a "huge gap" in how the legal system helps or doesn't help victims of crime.

"The only tools that we're giving these people, the only recognition that we provide them for their trauma, and the horrible things they went through, is the length of a sentence of somebody," saidIftene, a law professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

"Ido think that we are doing a horrible job at supporting the victims,and we do need to do a much much better job."

• Family of murdered Stephenville woman say killer wants to serve parole in community

In a raw and emotional interview, McIsaac recounted her family's letter-writing campaignto the parole board, and the pain of having to continually "relive that day, over and over again," in their attempts to keep Legge in prison.

That's one aspect of what Iftenedescribes as an "adversarial" sentencing system that pits victims against offender and allowstrauma to fester like an open wound for years, or in the case of life sentences, decades, in a kind of stalemate.

Power of parole

While Iftene, who was not involved in the Legge case, says she sympathizes with crime victims, she also says lengthy sentencesoften don't do much for offenders, either, and parole plays an important role in rehabilitation, even for people convicted of the most serious of crimes.

Legge's sentencing included the possibility of applying for parole after 15 years under a now-defunct section of the Criminal Code known as the "faint-hope" clause. It was repealed by the Conservative federal government in 2011, but Legge was grandfathered into being able to avail of it.

No matter how horrible the crime, punishing somebody has to have a purpose.- Adelina Iftene

The faint-hopeclause "wasn't something that a lot of people got," said Iftene, "but it was an acknowledgement that having somebody for an extended period of time in prison at one point becomes detrimental, because there's nothing to be gained by that."

The repeal of the faint-hope clause was criticized by several organizations, such as the John Howard Society and the Canadian Criminal Justice Association.

Regardless of the clause, ultimately in sentencing, "no matter how horrible the crime, punishing somebody has to have a purpose," said Iftene.

The longer someone spends in prison, the more institutionalized they become, and harder to reform, she said, and losing the prospect of parole can be damaging.

"There is a concern that definitely they are not really going to have a motivation to work towards rehabilitation. They are going to be angry more than remorseful," she said.

In Legge's2005 sentencing, Justice Richard LeBlanc wrote he had "little optimism" that Legge would not reoffend. His two parole decisions the first, granted in February and the second in August, each for six-month periodsboth said he was at "moderate" risk to reoffend.

But the decisions also noted that the numerous programs he successfully completedbehind bars helped him manage problematic and violent behaviours.

With Legge now in his early 80s, his initial parole decision notedreports that he has shown signs of "deteriorating health and capacity with time." The second decision addedhe has "hearing issues."

One in four federal inmates is 50 or older, according to the Office of the Correctional Investigator, qualifying them as older offenders, as serving time is considered to addabout 10 years to chronological age.

• Elderly inmate's death highlights lack of aging strategy in Canada's prisons

. To that end, Iftenesaid aging has complicated offenders' care.

"Prisons are not nursing homes," she said.

Admitting it's "probably not going to be popular" with crime victims, Iftene said this again points to the need to rethink how senior offenders are incarcerated or released to the community, balancing the need to address victims' pain "without inflicting punishment for the sake of punishment on the offenders."

Support, for both sides

Legge, now in the midst of his second parole period,visited the Stephenville area in early September, according to Lucas's family.McIsaac also said he applied to serve the remainder of it in Stephenville, and the family and wider community are organizing a protest march to express their outrage.

In granting such a parole request, Iftene said, "it's always a very fine balance, between thinking of the pain that has been caused, but also upholding somebody's rights."

While this is particularly complicated in a small community such as Stephenville, one important aspect of parole is ensuring that offenders have the tools to successfully reintegrate, she said.

"You cannot release them to a random community, where they have no supports. Supports are very important for an individual upon release," she said.

In hisAugust parole decision, the Parole Board of Canada said it authorized Legge to have leave periods from his current halfway house its location unspecified as he had "positive support in the community" and support of his family members. It stated his social activities, such as church, were "crucial" for helping him develop rehabilitation skills.

"[The board] believes you have made a decision to make change," the report stated.

But the planned protest speaks to what hasn't changed in Stephenville, and how the pain of Lucas's murder has endured.

• Why Canada needs more restorative justice programs

"I think that just speaks to the failure of the criminal justice system," said Iftene. "If more effort would be put into a more restorative approach to the trauma that has been created, it would probably not remove, but minimize, the kind of impact that having [Legge and the family] in the community would have."

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador