My Day is done, it’s time for bed

Odin bless my sleepy head

Earth and Water, Air and Fire

Bring gentle dreams as I retire

When the evening moon does rise

May Thor bless my open eyes

And if I should die before I wake

I pray to Hel my soul to take

Written by Kevin McLaughlin (AKA Lugh Sulian) March 24 2013.

Services for Victims of Crime

Kevin McLaughlin

COR1923 450: Introduction to Criminology

Professor XXX

Date: 02/05/24

Services for Victims of Crime

Persons who suffer from a loss of or damage to property, emotional or physical harm, or financial loss as a result of the commission of an offense are victims of the offense committed. Under current legislation, these individuals are entitled to assistive services and programs. This study shall look at services and programs available to those individuals who have become victims to the growing issue of Fentanyl trafficking. This issue has multiple facets when identifying its victimology as it has many bi-lateral victims.

“Upper Ottawa Valley OPP have charged 11 people following a major drug bust in Pembroke. Police say they executed two search warrants at homes on William Street last week. They reportedly found suspected fentanyl and cocaine, along with scales, money, drug paraphernalia and cell phones.” (myFM News, Jan 31, 2024)

Identifying the Victims

Assessing the Need For Victim Services

Let us talk about what is available for services for victims of crime, bearing in mind that persons involved may also be victims of it. First and foremost is the Victims Fundⁱⁱⁱ This is primarily to assist in setting up programming by facilitators who, in turn, are able to use that resource to provide aid to victims. With this aid, many of the programs available are possible. About drug use in itself, several resources are available, such as the Addictions Treatment Helplines in Canada^iv or Wellness Together^v both are good starting points and can point someone to a more local resource for assistance. For example, in the Pembroke area, there is the Renfrew County Addiction Treatment System^vi which can facilitate a road to recovery.

Conclusion

Identifying the victims of drug trafficking can be challenging. It is even more so when one considers the overlap between its victims and perpetrators. Drug trafficking has far-reaching implications; it reaches into the sex trade, human trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism in all forms. It is a domestic and international issue. While we must deal with the implications of committed offenses, and the impact those offences have on the general public, we need to deal with the genuine possibility that those who commit drug-related offenses are, very well, indeed, its victims. While there are those who feel that drug traffickers cannot be victims, this belief may be far from the truth and is evidenced in this case reported by CBC in February of 2021. It outlines the story of a young person who became a dealer as a result of debt and need caused by their addiction. The Judge for this matter felt that jail is not the answer for people dealing fentanyl. To quote this article “In a ruling likely to send shockwaves through B.C.’s justice system, Campbell River Provincial Court Judge Barbara Flewelling last week broke with years of precedent set by the province’s top court — suspending a sentence for a woman facing up to three years in jail for trafficking in fentanyl and placing her on probation instead.”^vii

ihttps://www.grc-rcmp.gc.ca/en/news/2023/rcmp-rnc-jfo-west-talks-impacts-drug-trafficking-including-increased-violent-crimes-and

iihttps://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/res/pub/ROV-ROV/index.html#_Toc121406416

iiihttps://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fund-fina/cj-jp/fund-fond/index.html#:~:text=The%20Victims%20Fund%20provides%20grants,available%20to%20victims%20of%20crime

ivhttps://www.ccsa.ca/addictions-treatment-helplines-canada

vhttps://www.wellnesstogether.ca/en-ca/

vihttps://www.renfrewcountyaddictiontreatment.ca/

viihttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/judge-drugs-addicts-sentencing-1.6275724

Kevin McLaughlin

COR1923 450: Introduction to Criminology

Professor Jennifer Zubick

Date

Services for Victims of Crime

Persons who suffer from a loss of or damage to property, emotional or physical harm or financial loss as result of the commision of an offence are victims of the offence commited. As such these individuals under current legislations are entitled to assistive services and/or programs. This study shall look at services and programs available to those individuals who have become victims to the growing issue of Fentanyl trafficking. This issue has multiple facets when identifying its victimolgy as it has many bi-lateral victims.

“Upper Ottawa Valley OPP have charged 11 people following a major drug bust in Pembroke. Police say they executed two search warrants at homes on William Street last week. They reportedly found suspected fentanyl and cocaine, along with scales, money, drug paraphernalia and cell phones.” (myFM News, Jan 31,2024)

Identifying the Victims

Drug trafficking has many victims from the general public to even those who are directly involved in the actual act of traffickingⁱ. Crime related to this endeavour range from property related damage, theft, human trafficking, home invasion, homicide, threats, money laundering to name a few. With such a wide range of offences it may become difficult to assess who is the victim and who is the offender when they can be one in the same. The trafficker may not be a willing participant, they may be a victim as well. For example the individual selling the drugs at street level may only be doing so as a result of threats against their person made as a result of an indebtedness to the dealer they once procured drugs from for their own drug habit. That same victim may as a result of this indebtedness perpetrate other offences such as theft in order to get out of debt. In summary what can be done here if the committer of the offence is also the victim of said offence. The technical terminology for this is the victim-offender overlapⁱⁱ In this instance we need to shift our way of thinking and recognize that although yes this person may have committed this offence but they may also be a victim to it as well. I wish I could find some study done to co-relate my work here however none seem to exist. And this in itself I believe is a problem. It means that no one of note feels that this merits a case study, no one of note recognizes the need to deal with the victim offender overlap that exists within the drug trade.

Assessing the Need For Victim Services

Let’s talk about what is available for services for victims of crime bearing in mind that persons involved may also be victims of it as well. First and foremost is the Victims Fundⁱⁱⁱ This is primarily to assist setting up programming by facilitators who in turn are able to use that resource to provide aid to victims. Without this aid many of the programs available would not be possible. In relation to drug use in itself several resources are available such as the Addictions Treatment Helplines in Canada^iv or Wellness Together^v both are good starting points and have the ability to point some one to a more local resource for assistance. For example in the Pembroke area there is the Renfrew County Addiction Treatment System^vi which can facilitate a road to recovery.

Conclusion

Identifying the victims of drug trafficking can be challenging. Even more so when one considers the overlap between its victims and its perpetrators. Drug trafficking has far reaching implications, it reaches into the sex trade, human trafficking, organized crime, terrorism in all forms. It is a domestic and international issue. While we must deal with the implications of committed offences I also believe we have the need to deal with the very real possibility that those who commit drug related offenses are very well indeed its victims.

ihttps://www.grc-rcmp.gc.ca/en/news/2023/rcmp-rnc-jfo-west-talks-impacts-drug-trafficking-including-increased-violent-crimes-and

iihttps://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/res/pub/ROV-ROV/index.html#_Toc121406416

iiihttps://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fund-fina/cj-jp/fund-fond/index.html#:~:text=The%20Victims%20Fund%20provides%20grants,available%20to%20victims%20of%20crime

ivhttps://www.ccsa.ca/addictions-treatment-helplines-canada

vhttps://www.wellnesstogether.ca/en-ca/

vihttps://www.renfrewcountyaddictiontreatment.ca/