The recent controversial, high-profile judicial declaration of a mistrial in the case of Lindsay Clancy for killing her three young children while suffering postpartum psychosis ironically came days after an op-ed in a local newspaper entitled “Murderers should be locked up for life.”

As both the court case and the op-ed manifest, debates about what constitutes criminal justice persist.

A crime is a violation of law in which the offender must have acted voluntarily, with intent, and with no legally acceptable excuse or justification, such as being diagnosed as mentally “not criminally responsible.” The criminal justice system is an institutional response to violations of law by police, courts and prisons, employing four differing rationales for its response to crime.

Retribution is a punitive function, operating as moral vengeance by which society subjects an offender to suffering comparable to that caused by the offence — capital punishment being the ultimate. It may also, where possible, include restitution in which offenders compensate their victims. As the oldest justification for punishment, retribution is a form of public revenge and retaliation intended to restore “moral balance” to society.

I run a company that builds software to read documents and fill out forms. When I look at Winnipeg, I see a lot of potential customers. I also think the city should be asking some fairly uncomfortable questions about what companies like mine are selling.

Winnipeg has spent decades building an economy that does not depend on any one industry. Insurance, agriculture, transportation, aerospace, manufacturing, government, health care. That mix has served it well. A bad year for one employer does not necessarily become a bad year for the whole city.

But there is another way to look at that economy: what people actually do when they arrive at work.

Great-West Lifeco, Wawanesa, IGM Financial and Manitoba Public Insurance are all headquartered in Winnipeg. There are provincial departments, Shared Health and businesses handling the freight moving through CentrePort. Their purposes are different. A surprising amount of their paperwork follows the same routine.

Winnipeg, the capital of "Friendly Manitoba," is becoming far less friendly to anyone who is struggling to survive. The city is also less and less supportive of the not-for-profit sector which struggles to support those struggling to survive.