There is an ongoing Facebook debate regarding whether or not J.R. (aka
Runaway Devil) is entitled to the complete and total freedom she is soon to enjoy once her "Intensive Rehabilitation Custody" order expires.
The discussion is essentially splitting hairs; regardless of what anyone says, thinks, or does, she will be released back into the herd very soon, and her criminal record will vanish within five years on the condition that she stays out of trouble. However, as intangible as public opinion seems to be concerning the systems which govern us, it is clear that a good many people are still reeling from the unthinkable crimes perpetrated against an innocent Mother, Father, and little boy.
With the community of Medicine Hat, Alberta still expressing such strong emotions about the Richardson family murders, how can there be any reasonable expectations that one of the two people responsible for the killings -- the young woman we have come to know as Runaway Devil -- has come through the process fully healed and ready to re-integrate? The most frequently-used argument against J.R.'s release is that it seems like an impossible mission to "fix" or "correct" someone who thought it was okay to murder her family in the name of forbidden love. The rational mind can't help but think: if any crime deserves a life sentence, it's this one.
But there is no life sentence for J.R., beyond the fact that her Mother, Father, and little brother are no longer alive as a direct result of her thoughts and actions. Once her criminal record is expunged, the only stain she will carry with her is her memory of that awful night. Given the fact that she was seen giggling and making out with her then-boyfriend at a party only hours after her family was butchered, I'm not banking on those memories causing her to feel the grief that she failed to express in the days that followed the murders.
Because of the gender bias that exists within our social systems, J.R. never had to own up to the crimes she committed; she simply sat back and waited for the blame to fall upon a more conventional target: Jeremy Allan Steinke.
In my not always humble opinion, if anyone could have benefited from Intensive Rehabilitation Custody, it was Jeremy. His life story is a tragic one, and it stands in stark comparison to the life of privilege into which his young amour was born. Hers was like a shiny, red apple while Jeremy's was like the worm one sometimes finds after taking a bite. Based solely on his background, it is easier to see why Jeremy may have thought at one time that killing J.R.'s family was a good idea.
In the case of Runaway Devil, no obvious links can be made between her development and her behaviour. Ultimately, she stood behind the readily available excuse that she was just an impressionable, young girl who didn't know the difference between fantasy and reality.
I'm providing the links to two opposing Facebook groups, as well as PDF versions of each in case the site administrators remove them from the server. Also, I decided not to redact the names and avatars of posters because both of these discussions are publicly accessible.
