(Published in The Province June 2, 2005)
Justice system has no answers for dealing with the chronic offender
By Leo Knight
“He is a prolific offender, probably the most prolific offender.” – Crown Counsel Julie Robinson.
Last week merchants on Commercial Drive attended a forum put on by a couple of Vancouver Police officers. They were looking for ways to help protect themselves from the habitual problem of property crime and unending thefts.
The thread that ran through the meeting and was expressed by all, was the frustration in dealing with the same people over and over again. The police officers couldn’t offer much in the way of answers saying they were constantly arresting and charging the offenders, but little, if anything, resulted.
But this wasn’t simply moaning about uncaring judges or railing on about victim’s rights. One officer who works the Commercial Drive beat told me about a guy who had amassed, she said, 188 convictions.
That staggered me. Not 188 arrests, though that would be shocking enough, but 188 convictions.
I couldn’t even begin to understand how a so-called justice system is paralyzed to deal with such a chronic criminal.
The court records at 222 Main Street show 165 separate files, some with multiple counts filed against the man, most ending with a guilty finding or guilty plea. They were predominantly for theft, but there were convictions for uttering, assault and the ubiquitous breach of probation charges.
The man’s name is Kevin Wayne Morgan. He is not yet 40 years old, though he looks older. He is a tragic figure, suffering from mental illness brought on by over-indulging in inhalants according to information submitted in a sentencing hearing. And, not surprisingly, he is also drug-addicted. When he is free from custody, he steals incessantly, partly to feed his addiction and partly because, according to a psych report, he suffers from a “lack of impulse control.”
Most of the charges seemed to be packaged into plea agreements and the sentences were usually of the custodial nature, short in duration and coupled with yet another period of probation.
On Tuesday he was in the court of Provincial Court Judge C.J. Bruce, herself no stranger to Morgan. What was apparent to this observer was the palpable sense of frustration on the part of everyone involved in the process, from Crown Counsel Julie Robinson, to the Judge, to Defence Counsel Sandy Ross, to Liz Roberts from the MPA Society to Morgan himself. No one had any answers for dealing with Morgan.
In the end, the Judge asked if there was any alternative to jail. Ross just sadly shook his head and said, “Many, many efforts have been made.”
Judge Bruce sadly noted that Morgan had fallen through the cracks of the system and then did the only thing left to her. She gave him yet another short term in jail. Fourteen days to go along with the eight days already served since his latest arrest and 12 months probation to go along with all the other probation orders.
Because of his diminished mental capacity he has to be in protective custody so as not to be victimized by the general population. And with that, Kevin Wayne Morgan fell through the cracks again.
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