Violence Against Women and Children Costs YOU Money (even if you're not a victim or an abuser!)

Perspective. Why does violence against women & children effect YOU - why the policing, court and services of course. This is why we need to make it stop..
From an online article, stats and study:

"Sexual assault cases would cost the police anywhere from $10,320 to $51,225 per incident depending on the level.

On average, criminal court cases cost $1,408 per case with the average legal aid expenditure pegged at $811 per criminal court case. The justice system also incurs expenses during prosecution, incarceration, conditional sentences, probation, and civil protection.

The financial cost to victims is also great, the study finds, since many are forced to seek medical care in terms of doctor visits and hospitalization and suffer from mental health issues. These physical and mental injuries can lead to productivity losses like lost wages for female victims amounting to $136 per day and lost education which has a dollar value of $39.41 per school day (college or university).

Third parties like social services and employers also bear the brunt of sexual violence against women in Canada. Crisis lines, support centers, and victim services spend $40, $450, and $453 per incident respectively. Employers lose their employee victim's output which is 5.2 per cent of the total of lost wages. Tardiness and distraction and absences are also hurtful to their bottom line."

Oh yeah...and not forgetting to mention - repeating behaviours and patterns to the NEXT generation so costs will continue to soar. Violent programs, etc, etc








Original source from HuffPost

Flash mob part of worldwide movement to bring awareness to domestic violence

One Billion Reasons to Dance!

More than 200 people participated in Thursday’s ‘flash mob’ at Five Points. The dance was promoting the ‘One Billion Rising’ (V-Day) campaign which hoped to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. MARK WANZEL PHOTO/BARRIE EXAMINER

More than 200 people participated in Thursday’s ‘flash mob’ at Five Points.

The dance was promoting the ‘One Billion Rising’ (V-Day) campaign which hoped to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations.

The event in Barrie, organized by Shannon Murree, (in front wearing purple hat), was one of thousands taking place worldwide.

In 2012, more than 5,800 V-Day benefit events took place, produced by volunteer activists, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls both locally and globally. For information, visit www.onebillionrising.org

Laws Need to Be Changed? Random Act of Violence

Man convicted in murder of doctor's wife in 2008 saw verdict overturned - Khonsari Case Back in Court

I feel so much for this family. He was a wonderful Dr to my little ones when they were born. So patient and kind. Sad to know he died with this deep pain after the killing of his wife. This is way too close to home.

Barrie Ontario's Mimi Khonsari was kidnapped and murdered in May 2004.

A man who was formerly convicted in the brutal murder of Mimi Khonsari eight years ago made a brief appearance in court Friday in preparation for a new trial.

Clare Spiers, 50, who has lived in Barrie, Toronto and New York, was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty in 2008.

But three years into his life sentence, the Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned the verdict and ruled he has the right to a new trial after it found the Crown had improperly vetted the jury.

That means that Spiers is now presumed innocent and he has a fresh start with a new trial.

In court, Spiers stood in handcuffs and looked around the court.

It is not known yet whether his lawyer will make an application for a bail hearing.

He is charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping of Khonsari, 60, who was the wife of a prominent Barrie doctor, Homa Khonsari, who recently died.

Spiers is also charged with the kidnapping of Khonsari’s infant grandchild, who was with her on the day she was murdered.

Khonsari’s strangled and stabbed body was found in a wooded area on Ridge Road, north of Barrie, on May 21, 2004. That same day the grandchild was found alive in Khonsari’s car, which was abandoned in a parking lot near the Kozlov mall.

It was not until seven months later that police announced the arrest of Spiers, a door-to-door home renovations salesman who was living on Hickling Trail in Barrie. At the time of his arrest, police said Spiers was not known to the family and that Khonsari’s killing was a random act.

Following his conviction, Spiers’ lawyer took the case to Ontario’s high court, arguing his verdict might have been different if the Crown hadn’t vetted the jury in its favour by using police resources to weed out disreputable people who could possibly be unsympathetic to the Crown’s case.

The high court agreed that, while there was no malicious intent, the information received by the Crown shaped the jury differently than it would have been able to otherwise.

“I conclude that the well-informed and reasonable person would perceive the jury selection process in this case to be unfair,” wrote the appeals court in its recent ruling. “There can be no doubt that the public and an accused would view with grave suspicion a jury selection process that unfairly favours the Crown.”

Spiers will be held at the Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene while awaiting his new trial.

He is scheduled to be back in court for a pretrial hearing on May 22. By Tracy McLaughlin, Special to QMI AGENCY

Friday, February 1, 2013 9:15:42 EST PM