By arthur Weinreb
Friday, June 17, 2005It is probably trite to say that in the last few years we have become completely inundated with media polls. Many of them have very little relevance at the best of times and, in some cases, although interesting, they tell us absolutely nothing.
When a business or a political party commissions a private poll, they want it to be as accurate as possible so that they can properly gauge the subject matter that the respondents are being questioned upon. Only accurate results can govern what future conduct these organizations engage in. This is not the case however when it comes to media polls. The media has a vested interest in wanting the poll to come out in such a way that the results are the most newsworthy. and there is no shortage of ways to manipulate the taking of a poll to achieve the desired result. The way the question is worded and exactly what information is provided to the poll’s respondents are just two of the ways that a desired end result can be achieved.
Then again, there are some polls that, while they may be interesting, serve no useful purpose. The Globe and Mail and CTV commissioned a poll that was conducted earlier this month concerning the release of schoolgirl killer Karla Homolka. Done around the time that Homolka’s hearing under section 810 of the Criminal Code was held, the poll revealed that 74 per cent of those questioned think that she is still poses a danger while 26 per cent of respondents feel that she is not a threat at all.
So what.
No one can tell with certainty whether Homolka will or will not re-offend in the future. The best we can do is to rely upon the opinions of experts who have had contact with her to make an educated guess as to what will happen after her release. This is necessary to ensure that there is a basis for the somewhat extraordinary restrictions on her liberty after she fully completes her sentence. Suppose that the results of the polls had been reversed and three quarters of the respondents felt Karla Homolka posed no danger at all. Should she simply be set free to do her own thing? No; even though the way our corrections and parole systems operate leave a lot to be desired, how she handled in the future should not be decided by polls.
The poll, while somewhat interesting, especially that a significant proportion of the population seem to think she will re-enter society as a law abiding citizen, cannot and should not affect anything that is happening now or will happen in the future.
It might be interesting and of some value if the media dared to ask politically incorrect questions such as, "Should Karla and her then-husband Paul Bernardo have been sentenced to death for their crimes"? We just know that we’ll never see that poll; at least not in the mainstream media.