Ms. Jones Has To Be Kiddling
Submitted by Dawn Shimmel
10/25/99

I read the letter that Ms. Jones wrote concerning Doug Hannan. The question I have is: “Are you JOKING?” Mr. Hannan got what he deserved. It is not justice to let one man off, because others are getting off. He broke the law, not to mention several bones in the face of his son’s mother. The scars that he left may not have been visible, but could have lasting affects for generations in his family tree. Violence is a cycle. If it is not stopped it will perpetuate it’s self.
This woman obviously has no clue what domestic violence does to a community; to a family; to a child. Does she realize that more than 1/2 of the people in prison were either victims of domestic violence or witnessed it growing up?

We should not be crying for the time that Doug Hannan has lost in prison. The citizens of Toronto should be making an out cry to the Criminal Justice System in Toronto and demanding that men that do what Mr. Hannan did serve the mandatory sentences they deserve. There should be no plea bargaining or mandatory counseling. They should go to prison. After they have paid their debt to society they should then be rehabilitated. If they perpetrated such crimes on people who were not members of their families, they would be serving much harsher terms.

In closing I would like to challenge all of the people who need a “cause” to pursue, to call your local battered woman’s shelter(A.L.I.V.E) and champion their cause. Become educated on the crime of Domestic Violence and it’s affects on your community. I believe it will be much more advantageous to your community and to your soul, rather than defending the likes of a man who would take his rage out on a woman, instead of walking away.

Dawn Cox ShimmelSurvivor