Every day in Toronto, there is another incident involving either an unprovoked attack by someone in a mental crisis or a swarming of someone by teenagers. Sympathetic treatment toward mental illness involving violence and the “Young Offender’s Act” are the root cause of this growing problem.

In Oct 2022 RCMP officer Shaelyn Yang was attacked by a homeless man with a knife. She managed to shoot him during the altercation, the homeless man survived, but officer Yang did not. Yang was not only trained as a police officer but trained in dealing with mental health and was part of a homeless outreach program, but despite that, she not only could not help the homeless man but was murdered by him. As tragic as this was, it boggles my mind, that in today’s society, it was necessary to have an investigation afterward to determine if her shooting him was justified. She’s dead! It’s obvious the shooting was not only justified but she should have done more.

There has never been more empathy and acceptance toward mental illness than there is today. As positive as this is, acceptance of the behavior associated with it has enabled a small number to escalate their actions to violence, leading to serious injury and death of innocent people on a daily basis. While some of these attacks are unpredictable, the ones done by people with a history of violence are totally preventable. Lack of a deterrent at the onset of violence because someone has mental issues reduces their need to control themselves and enables their behavior to escalate.

Not unlike violence by the mentally ill, the amount of crime done by young offenders is enabled by the current “The Young Offenders Act”. Of course, everything possible needs to be done to keep youth on the right path and rehabilitate the ones that stray off it but current laws don’t do that. Although “The Young Offenders Act” works for the majority of youth for first or second offenses, it provides little deterrent to repeat offenders, enabling them to commit more serious crimes and reducing their chances of rehabilitation. Any young offender convicted of a second violent offense or a third criminal act should face the full wrath of the adult punishment for that offense.

Most crimes are totally preventable as people can control their actions when they need to. No one would put their hand on a hot stove if they were told not to. (NO I AM NOT SUGGESTING THAT BE DONE TO ANYONE!!!!) I am just saying most people that commit crimes have the ability to control their actions and would think twice before committing a crime if there was enough of a deterrent. Also, current deterrents do not work well because waiting months or years for a trial causes a disassociation between actions and punishment.

It would be nice if everyone could be helped with a hug and a long talk, but with the increase of money and programs toward this solution over the past years, problems are getting worse, not better. You have to be pretty naive to believe that acceptance, defunding the police, and throwing money into programs will help everyone. For a small but significant number, it becomes an enabler. We need to do everything possible to help people before things get out of hand but can not ignore or tolerate violence or repetitive criminal acts because of the age or mental state of the person.

When an armed, specially trained police officer can be killed, what chance do you and your loved ones have? We all have the right to be safe. The rights of the mentally ill and young offenders should not be above everyone else.

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com