While the law & order junkies are screaming blue murder about the deal that Peter Whitmore received for his violent sexual offences...essentailly he was not tagged a dangerous offender pursuant to Part XXIV of The Criminal Code.... the reality of the situation is that the Dangerous Offender tag does not change Whitmore's parole eligibility at all.

The Dangerous Offender tag,the arguement goes, is a red flag for the parole board, however, Whitmore's record is pretty much a red flag as is his life sentence without anyone being killed.

The arguement that he will be forgotten and will slip through the system without the police, the family or the press being any the wiser is, sorry to say, nonsense. When this dude comes up for parole we are all going to know about it and there will be plenty of people to remind the board why he should stay in prison.

The deal is worth it to save the victims the displeasure of testifying. His guilty plea and agreed life imprisonment are worth the sacrifice of the dangerous offender label. The plea bargain system actually worked in this case and, frankly, those who cannot see it are blinded by outrage that they are projecting onto the system.

Update: The commentators at Small Dead Animals are none too pleased. Also this post on bail gone wrong... I note that there are never any stories on bail that goes right, which is almost all bail cases... however, the real story is about a guy fighting back and I'm pleased that it worked ou for him. If we need some outrage it should be about the removal of property rights and the ability of property owners to protect their property. That too would cut down on repeat crime.