ATHABASCA — A former corrections, probation and parole officer, and now Alberta-based author Doug Heckbert will give his perspective on the criminal justice system and share some of his first-hand experiences when he visits Athabasca next month.
On Sept. 28 at 7 p.m., the Reading Edge Book Club will host author Doug Heckbert to discuss his compilation of stories called Go ahead and Shoot Me: And Other True Cases About Ordinary Individuals, about how lapses in judgment can lead people to commit a crime. It will take place on the eleventh anniversary of the book club's first book discussion and will be the first in-person meeting for the group in 14 months.
Started in 2010 by Mary Olson who placed an ad in the Athabasca Advocate looking for like-minded book worms, the group has hosted a handful of authors including locals Mapendo Ndongotsi and Argentine Imanirakunda with co-author Dawn Hurley who detailed their friendship in The Place Between Our Fears: Life in Congo and Beyond.
Heckbert has been involved in the justice system for 40 years, from being a probation officer in Alberta, to a parole officer with the National Parole Service, even being an instructor for Grant MacEwan’s distance and online Correctional Services program and he’s dealt with thousands of people in that time, even the people involved in the incident that led to the title of the book.
“By having read the book and being part of a discussion that isn't dominated by the politics of crime; ‘once a crook. always a crook’; minimum sentences for everybody; the idea of getting tough on crime I would hope that some people if they kind of have those thoughts in their mind, they get rid of them,” Heckbert said in an Aug. 18 interview. “It's not helpful. It doesn't help us as a community (in) how are we going to deal with this behaviour.”
“The general population of offenders they range from stuff they've done – really, really serious and really damaging – to stuff that probably you and I have done at some point. We never got caught and they do,”
That stuff anyone has done, but never been caught for, varies, like the sisters who got a thrill from going to the city and shoplifting or the woman who was charged when she put the item she bought back in the bin and took a different size. The security guard never saw the return so she ended up in court for shoplifting.
“She was ignorant of the lawful way to return something … and got charged,” he said. “And I think that it was a useful move on my part to question whether she should even be on probation.”
After hearing her story, Heckbert encouraged her to hire a lawyer which she did and the charges were dropped.
And while the book isn’t necessarily about justice reform or restorative justice, those themes do wind their way through its pages as Heckbert speaks of trying to find out the root cause of the crime and connecting on a human level with the people he encountered on the other side of his desk.
“I’ve worked in probation, parole and worked in a prison, and I've seen some pretty neat, compassionate stuff that would be supportive and contributed to a person not coming back,” he said.
Heckbert’s book is available at major book stores and online and he will also be speaking with the Rotary Club of Athabasca at their lunch meeting Sept. 29. If you want more information about the book club you can contact Mavis Jacobs at [email protected].
