Amazon has given in to public pressure and removed a book by convicted serial killer Robert Pickton from its listings.
On Sunday, a Change.org petition was circulated asking the online retailer to remove Pickton’s memoirs from their stocklist. By Monday night, the book could not be found on Amazon’s site, but is still available online from Barnes & Noble. [Note: it has been taken down since publication.]
Pickton: In His Own Words maintains Pickton’s innocence in the murders of six women that he was convicted of. Despite video evidence of him confessing to an undercover police officer that he had killed 49 women, the dust jacket of the book refers to him as the “fall guy,” implying a conspiracy.
The petition’s writer made an emotional plea to the online giant, asking them to show respect for the families of Pickton’s victims.
“In honour of all the families who were affected by the horrible crimes of this predator, who were denied agency in his ‘trial’ and who are still going through their healing processes, Amazon needs to refuse to sell Pickton: In His Own Words on its website,” the petition said.
Amazon’s removal of Pickton’s book on Monday coincides with national Freedom to Read Week. The week, organized by the Book and Periodical Council, is an event that lobbies free expression and the intellectual freedom of every Canadian.
Despite this poetic coincidence, Franklin Carter, editor at the Book and Periodical Council, says it’s not a freedom of expression issue.
“Amazon is a private bookseller, so Amazon gets to decide what they sell and what they don’t want to sell,” he says.
“Pickton is entitled to write a manuscript, and if he finds a publisher who’s willing to publish it, the publisher can go ahead and publish it. And if people want to read it, they’re free to read it, too.”
According to CTV, the book was smuggled out by a former cellmate of Picton’s and self-published on the outside by Michael Chilldres, a retired construction worker in California.
According to Chilldres, any profits of the book would not have gone to Pickton, but rather to the former cellmate. Despite this, the government of BC wants to ensure that Pickton cannot profit off his work and may seek to enact a so-called Son of Sam law. These laws, which grew to prominence after David Berkowitz sought to sell his story, prevent anyone from financially gaining from their crimes. Presently, only Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Nova Scotia have such laws.
This is also not the first time infamous Canadians have faced public outrage for trying to publish literary works. In 2009, former provincial minister and convicted murder Colin Thatcher published a book about his unjust incarceration. And just last year, Paul Bernado self-published a book through Amazon, which was subsequently taken down by the seller. Unlike Pickton, Thatcher published his book after he was released and Bernado’s work was not directly about his crimes.
website@nowtoronto.com | @MilesJKenyon
