"Impressions from some judges, lawyers, physicians and others in the legal system indicate an increasing awareness that youth and adults with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) . . . are coming into conflict with the law. The neurological damage caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol affects the whole brain and may result in an increased susceptibility to criminal activity."
Dr. Diane K. Fast, Oct. 1999
WHEN B.C. Provincial Court Judge Karen Walker imposed only a conditional sentence on Del Louie earlier this month for his attack on Coast Mountain bus driver Charles Dixon, she provoked a considerable backlash in the community.
Another injustice for a vicious assault that has left an innocent man with painful symptoms that will last for years, perhaps for life.
Understandably, some of the loudest voices raised in condemnation of Louie's assault were those of Canadian Autoworkers' Union members, who pointed to increasing violence against bus drivers who have virtually no way of fending off such attacks.
But when Walker cited Louie's diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome, his part-aboriginal heritage and troubled upbringing as her reasons for judgment, I believe she did the right thing.
Moreover, the decision made me ask: Who bears the burden of responsibility here? Is it Louie alone, or should our society shoulder a good part of the blame?
There are no black and white answers in this story - only varying shades of an unpleasant grey.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or as it is now more precisely described, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), first came to the notice of pediatricians and other professionals in the mid1970s.
Even in those days, it was known that women who drank alcohol during pregnancy were more likely to have affected offspring. So because the rate of alcoholism among aboriginal people was also higher than in the community at large, it was no surprise to discover a higher rate of FASD in that population.
Some of the physical characteristics of the disorder were being seen more frequently in newborn babies and affected youth and adults were disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system.
In a 1999 article published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioural Pediatrics, Dr. Diane Fast and her colleagues cited figures suggesting as many as 60 per cent of adolescents and adults with FAS/FAE (fetal alcohol effect) had experienced trouble with the law."
So what are the physical characteristics? How do the psychological effects manifest in society and how does alcohol wreak this havoc?
Answering those questions last to first:
Simply put, alcohol has an adverse effect on the neurological development of an infant's brain. The heavier a pregnant woman's alcohol consumption, the more likely it is that her infant will suffer the consequences.
As for the physical characteristics, suffice it to quote the Fast report: "FAS and FAE are characterized by specific recognizable patterns of growth deficiency . . . facial anomalies, and central nervous system dysfunction."
The more noticeable facial effects are a flattened ridge between nose and a thin upper lip, small eye openings and a small head.
Importantly, one of the frequent psychological effects is an inability on the part of an FASD-affected individual to anticipate the consequences of an inappropriate, even violent action - an action like the sucker punch Louie landed on the nose and face of bus-driver Charles Dixon in Feb. 2011.
So if it was Louie who landed the punch and his mother who drank the alcohol and then raised her son in what his lawyer called a troubled upbringing, why should society bear the blame?
With a degree of shame, I suggest it's because, for more than 30 years now, we have been privy to all manner of reports that describe the residual effects of drinking alcohol in pregnancy, and yet we have done nothing. We deplore the results but do little to insist on changes to the systems that enable the problem.
Every year, government statistics reiterate that around 25 per cent of B.C. children live in poverty. We know that phenomenon is connected to problems around FAS; however, we have done little, collectively, to bring the figure down.
B.C.'s representative for children and youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond tells us that aboriginal people are disproportionately represented among the poor and among those who are addicted to alcohol and drugs. We tsk-tsk at that as well, yet make precious few advances to government to demand systemic changes to our social safety-nets that would allow us to eat away at those numbers.
Unfortunately for victims like Charles Dixon, our collective voices only grow loud enough to hear when we are shooting the messengers like Judge Walker, who have no option but to deal with the damage that is collateral to our inaction.
The public was right to be outraged about that crime, but its anger was misdirected.
