"You letter writers are sick and...stupid

she was in Canada, not the Bronx."

If you are insinuating that its completely safe up here and that Canadian women can get into cars with strangers you have been sadly misinformed. Even having lived in the US for a number of years I still don't really have a handle on what Americans think happens when you cross the border. I was recently asked, "do y'all have the internet up there?" when I phoned to order from a catalog. But I digress...

Although our violent crime rates are significantly lower than those in the US (because we don't all have guns in our closets, which would be just so damn creepy) I don't know a single woman who thinks hitch hiking is a good idea or has ever done it. We just sentenced a serial killer to life in prison for killing 6 women but he probably killed many more.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=dd4659b4-0ae4-4b80-b3ee-da7f34092f5f

We are just getting so cosmopolitan up here. And then there was Bernardo and his wife, who together lured girls into their cars and then, probably also together, videotaped as they raped and murdered them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bernardo

For that matter, Charled Ng was captured in Calgary where this story originates. The sad list goes on and on.

I wouldn't call any of their victims stupid. Maybe "stupid" was a stupid word for the judge to use. Maybe he should have said "naive" maybe even "unlucky". There's no question in my mind that getting into a car with a stranger is a bad idea, no matter where you live, and I guess no matter the gender of the driver in light of the Bernardo case. That doesn't also mean that I think anybody who does, "has it coming". My disgust still lies entierly with the predator.

For the record, I think 3.5 years is a shamefully short sentence and that our sentencing guidelines need some overhauling.

I don't know what time of year this happened but you do know we have seasons, right? We don't always have "freezing Canadian cold". It often breaks 100 up here. Sometimes we can even take off our parkas in the summer when we are walking our seals. Unfortunately, our homes melt in the summer month and we have to live in the woods with our Sasquatches.

I know it makes the story more sympathetic if y'all can visualize the victim as just needing a ride over to her friend's igloo because her dog sled/polar bear broke down or whatever. I can't actually find the story in local media to check the time of year and I certainly haven't come across this story on the radio or TV news so I'll have to take Salon's word for it that this story even actually happened. The American stereotypes of Canada are just a little bit of a yawn.

I hope it was somewhat apparent that my post was tongue in cheek. You may notice in my earlier post that I diagreed with the judge and think the sentence was too light. I don't think he should have called her "stupid". I thought my post's worst offence was being off topic but there seems to be some odd speculation, by you and others, about how the fact that this was in Canada affected the situation. I don't deny it gets cold here but when I did finally find the original article there was no mention of the scenario you had painted. In fact, it says she was wearing her pj bottoms and heading to a town that is a couple hours drive away so its quite likely there was a chinook at the time. Common for November and would have meant a lot of people were wearing shorts that day.

I don't think it should be necessary to paint her as the poor little match girl in order for one to have sympathy for her. I think she had a lapse in judgement and did something risky. I have done the same (not hitch hiking) but, luckily did not come to such serious harm. I don't in any way blame her, but at the same time, it behooves us to be be cautious. I think that is what the judge, not so eloquently was trying to get at. It may not be fair that we have to so careful, but we do. I will also point out that I think you are putting yourself at risk by picking up hitch hikers. I believe that is how Aileen Wuoronos found her male victims.