REGINA, January 18, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Today marks one year since the imprisonment of Robert Latimer for the murder of his 12-year-old disabled daughter Tracy. As of today he is eligible to apply for the Prerogative of Mercy, a move his lawyers have said they are going to pursue. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition argues that such a move would put disabled Canadians at risk and today released evidence to prove it.
Professor Dick Sobsey of the University of Alberta conducted a study analyzing the number of cases of homicide and homicide that involved victims with developmental disabilities. In order to assess the effect that the Latimer murder and the surrounding publicity that favoured Latimer as a caring and merciful father may have had, professor Sobsey compared the number of these homicides before and after the murder. He also compared the post-Latimer murder data to that of the United States for added comparison.
Since the US has a population that is about 9.3 times as large as Canada it would be reasonable to expect the number of cases there to be about 9.3 times as many as here. Since they also have a higher murder rate, however, it would be reasonable to expect their numbers to be more than 9.3 times as high as ours. The important thing is to compute the ratio based on cases up to 1993, and then to compute the ratio from 1994 (when the first Latimer trial and surrounding publicity began to have potential effects).
Findings prior to the Latimer murder found that “an individual with a developmental disability had slightly more than double the risk in the US.” However after Latimer, the study found “a Canadian with a developmental disability was actually at 19.3% greater risk than his or her counterpart in the US.” To exemplify the extent of the change, Sobsey compared it to “suddenly waking up and finding that the murder rate in Canada was 20% higher than the US rate.”
Moreover when the study focused on cases in which parents killed their own children, those most likely to be affected by the Latimer publicity, it found a more dramatic effect. “After correcting for population, Americans with developmental disabilities were 2.5 times as likely to be killed by their parents as Canadians. After Latimer, “suddenly Canadians with developmental disabilities were 84% more likely than Americans to be killed by their parents.”