Lorne Gunter: How to catch a thief in Toronto

Worth a read:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/10/23/lorne-gunter-how-to-catch-a-thief-in-toronto.aspx

To some extent, the justice system is correct to step in between the public and the criminals, to serve as a buffer against the public's desire for revenge. One of the reasons we institutionalized justice as a civilization was to take the bloodlust out of the process.

But criminal justice now has become over-institutionalized. It has too many agendas of its own, separate from the public's. And when the public no longer sees its ends being met through the institutionalized justice system, they are going to be more likely to take matters into their own hands.