Manitoba’s highest court has slashed a prison sentence given to a high-risk sex offender who randomly stalked and molested a woman in a Winnipeg shopping mall.
Corey Wright, 39, was originally sentenced to four years behind bars but learned Wednesday the Court of Appeal had reduced it to three years.
Justice Richard Chartier said the initial penalty given to Wright "falls outside an acceptable range of sentences under similar circumstances, making it demonstrably unfit." Chartier noted the trial judge found the 2008 incident didn’t meet the legal definition of a "major sexual assault" - but then imposed a sentence as if it was.
Wright was found guilty of sexual assault for following a young woman around a shopping mall for 30 minutes, then running up behind her, grabbing her waist and forcing his hand between her legs. She screamed and ran away.
"The facts are very disconcerting," aid Chartier. "Although the victim was not physically injured from the attack, she suffered emotional and psychological harm."
Police were able to quickly identity and arrest Wright because the attack was caught on surveillance video, court was told.
Wright has a lengthy criminal history with more than 40 prior convictions, including five for "sexually-motivated" offences. Three involved exposing himself to women, one was for making indecent phone calls and the other was for criminal harassment against a female victim who he also stalked and exposed himself to in a shopping mall.
"What is clear from the latest incident...is that there is a noticeable and troublesome escalation in the level of violence used by the accused," said Chartier. "Furthermore, at the time of sentencing, the accused had done little to address his offending behaviour."
The Crown had originally sought a five-year sentence for Wright, while his lawyer asked for a 26-month penalty.
Wright had served pre-trial custody which was given-double time credit of 23 months. Chartier has now ordered him to spend another 13 months behind bars, to be followed by two years of supervised probation. His conditions include mandatory sex offender counselling and having no contact with the victim.
MANITOBA'S highest court has slashed a prison sentence given to a high-risk sex offender who randomly stalked and molested a woman in a Winnipeg shopping mall.
Corey Wright, 39, was originally sentenced to four years behind bars but learned Wednesday the Court of Appeal had reduced it to three years.
Justice Richard Chartier said the initial penalty given to Wright "falls outside an acceptable range of sentences under similar circumstances, making it demonstrably unfit." Chartier noted the trial judge found the 2008 incident didn't meet the legal definition of a "major sexual assault" -- but then imposed a sentence as if it was.
Wright was found guilty of sexual assault for following a young woman around a shopping mall for 30 minutes, then running up behind her, grabbing her waist and forcing his hand between her legs. She screamed and ran away.
"The facts are very disconcerting," said Chartier. "Although the victim was not physically injured from the attack, she suffered emotional and psychological harm."
Police were able to quickly identity and arrest Wright because the attack was caught on surveillance video, court was told.
Wright has a lengthy criminal history with more than 40 prior convictions, including five for "sexually motivated" offences. Three involved exposing himself to women, one was for making indecent phone calls and the other was for criminal harassment against a female victim who he also stalked and exposed himself to in a shopping mall.
"What is clear from the latest incident...is that there is a noticeable and troublesome escalation in the level of violence used by the accused," said Chartier. "Furthermore, at the time of sentencing, the accused had done little to address his offending behaviour."
The Crown had originally sought a five-year sentence for Wright, while his lawyer asked for a 26-month penalty.
Wright had served pre-trial custody which was given-double time credit of 23 months. Chartier has now ordered him to spend another 13 months behind bars, to be followed by two years of supervised probation. His conditions include mandatory sex offender counselling and having no contact with the victim.
The portion of the public who advocates for "tougher" sentences simply lack understanding, knowledge and information regarding our complex justice system and its mechanisms. Anyone who clearly understands our justice system and studies crime, such as criminologists and professors, usually do not advocate for tougher sentences, because the research has proven it to be ineffective and expensive at crime reduction and prevention. Because the majority of public receive information about crime and justice solely from the media (which is biased and sensationalizes violent and rare crimes), their attitudes about criminality are subsequently biased and not well developed. They are not well informed about the many issues surrounding the decisions made.
As a criminal justice student, it frustrates and concerns me to see so many members of the public completely disregarding human rights inherent to all Canadians (including prisoners) and advocating for tougher sentences which have been proven in research time and time again, to have little, if any, significant impact on crime rates. We need to stop ignoring the research, stop reactionary responses to crime and start implementing proactive and preventative policies instead. That is the only way crime will be reduced and/or prevented. I wish everybody understood this or at least acknowledged the research.. but unfortunately, some individuals are too self-centered/ignorant to acknowledge that they are wrong.
Seriously, how are longer prison sentences helpful to long term public safety and offender rehabilitation? They aren't. Longer sentences have been proven to increase an offender's chances of re-offending and decrease their chances of successful reintegration, which is extremely important for improving public safety. We must facilitate rehabilitation and reintegration in all cases, so offenders can be returned to society as productive and law abiding citizens.
How are longer prison sentences helpful to long term public safety and offender rehabilitation and reintegration? They are ineffective at all of these objectives. Longer sentences have been proven to increase an offender's chances of re-offending and decrease their likelihood of successful reintegration. How does that improve public safety? If an offender is not rehabilitated, provided with little support, assistance and programming upon release/guidance, they are more likely to re-offend, therefore, creating more dangerous communities. We have to remember that virtually all offenders WILL eventually be released back into our communities and be living among us. They will live in our cities and towns, be our coworkers, attend college or university with us or with our children and be our neighbours. Therefore, we MUST facilitate reintegration by providing offenders with the skills necessary to be productive members of society. We must always remember to do what is in society's best interests, and that does not mean retribution, revenge or excessive punishment.
An inmate serving a lengthy sentence in prison once said, "When I get out of here in 25 years, do you want to be my neighbour?"
An inmate serving a lengthy sentence in prison once said, "When I get out of here in 25 years, do you want to be my neighbour?"
I would have preferred a sentence of 2 years in prison for this sex offender. He should have to participate in sex offender counselling and programming in prison and also relapse prevention/maintenance programs once released into the community. Sex offenders suffer from cognitive distortions, and have often been abused or neglected themselves, therefore, they need effective psychological treatment. This man would be considered a "rapist" in the three categories of sex offenders and therefore, requires general crime programming and moderate intensity sex offender programming.
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