Paul Bernardo hasn’t changed that much despite what he says, report says

The Parole Board of Canada maintains that murderer Paul Bernardo still has little empathy towards his victims, that he still does not understand his crimes and that he therefore still represents a risk of recidivism. The 60-year-old Torontonian has been imprisoned since 1993 for the murders of two teenage girls in Niagara a year earlier.

The Board had already refused to grant him partial or full parole in 2018 and 2021.

She also refused him, last month, any temporary absence of a few hours in the community so that he could participate in group therapy with released offenders.

Manifest illogic

In its report, the Commission notes that Paul Bernardo changed in prison, but that these changes, although perceptible and quantifiableare insufficient to mitigate any risk of sexual or murderous recidivism.

She actually criticizes him for being incoherent in understanding his criminal behavior and changing his explanations from one hearing to the next when he applies for parole.

For example, in 2021, Paul Bernardo submitted to the commissioners the concept of male sexist privilege as being behind his crimes.

He rather spoke of this year the act of revenge against sadistic treatment that his parents allegedly administered to him as a teenager and the neglect he says he suffered.

However, the Commission recalls that he told it in 2021 that he had a happy childhood, free of behavioral problems and filled with good relationships.

The Commission then explains that this notion of revenge appears incomprehensible given that Paul Bernardo victimized women in the same way his mother was victimized by the men in her life.

You explain that this revenge led you to feel a sense of inferiority and that the need to control women allowed you to compensate for this weakness by forcing you to commit rape and seek more power through your sadistic behavior.she writes.

The Commission concludes that Paul Bernardo’s lack of introspection changed over time and that [son] most recent explanation has not yet been fully explored with medical professionals.

Sick stubbornness

Above all, she criticizes him for not accepting doctors’ diagnoses and social workers’ opinions about him and for making numerous efforts to contradict them with his self-diagnoses, his opinions and his personal readings.

Your persistence in questioning their conclusions suggests that you are continually resisting their efforts to help you better understand yourself and reevaluate your thinking and thereby reduce the risk you represent.she writes.

Paul Bernardo received several diagnoses and personality traits which call for cautioncontinues the Commission.

They include paraphilia disorders (frequent and intense sexual behavior, Editor’s note) such as sexual sadism and voyeurism or even narcissistic personality disorder (pervasive tendency towards the need for adulation, grandiloquence and lack of empathy).

The Commission further notes that the murderer does not meet the criteria for classification of psychopathy, even though there is general consensus that he is a psychopath, according to 1995 psychiatric tests.

Paul Bernardo, however, rejects the idea that he is a sadistic man and affirms that he now takes responsibility for his crimes.

The Commission notes, however, that the last three psychiatric examinations regarding the danger he represents (in 2020, 2022 and 2024) are all consistent and that they concluded that the risk of sexual violence is high or above average.

Aptitude for deception

She cites the most recent evaluation in which the clinician stated that the manipulation could be seen as a late consequence of an expression of psychopathy.

The Commission also writes that it cannot ignore the dangerous offender designation that the courts have assigned to him.

She further says that the progress the murderer is making in prison is irrelevant as he is incarcerated with men and the violence he has shown in the past is only directed against teenage girls and young women.

However, in 32 years, Paul Bernardo has only been around men. The Commission therefore suggests that no one knows how he would behave with women if he were to be released.

Your ability to manage your urges for sexual violence has therefore never been truly tested in a prison environment.she emphasizes.

The Commission says it believes Paul Bernardo has the opportunity to explore his understanding of his crimes more deeply, even though he believes there are no longer any reentry programs he could benefit from in prison.

She finally affirms that the correctional service did not infringe the constitutional rights of Paul Bernardo, who maintained during the last hearing that the solitary confinement and solitary confinement that he endured for 27 years were cruel and contrary to article 12 of the Charter.

Family concerns

The Commission also says it took into account comments from the French and Mahaffy families in its decision.

The statements, which address the fears these families have expressed in the past to the Commission, illustrate persistent trauma that they endure in the face of the possibility that the murderer will be released.

It is written in the report that family testimonies describe the distress that [sa] request for parole their cause, their concerns about public safety in the event [sa] release and request that the release [lui] be refused.

The Commission underlines in particular the intergenerational nature of the affliction experienced by the families of the murderer’s victims.

Leslie’s brother, Ryan Mahaffy, had in fact urged the commissioners to respect the life sentence imposed on his sister’s murderer.

His life in detention is not yet overhe declared in a painful plea.