No, what is so troubling is that the speaker was Jean-Pierre Major, a prosecutor for 24 years. Few people know the justice system as well as this insider. To be sure, in weighing the views of prosecutors, one should bear in mind that they are now in a pay dispute with Quebec City. Nonetheless, their factual arguments are, as judges might say, persuasive beyond a reasonable doubt. Little wonder few bright law-school grads choose to work for the Justice Department.
Any pasture is greener.
In criminal courts today, it is common to see defence lawyers searching on computers for statutes and jurisprudence. Not so with their adversaries, the prosecutors. They have no computers to use. Alarmingly, prosecutors even lack the equipment to check the department's database and see if accused people before them have criminal records. Quebec attorneys are so busy with clerical work that they have even less time to study up on their brutal, daily load of 20 to 30 cases.