A Carcross-Tagish woman with a 40-year history of violent crimes has been labelled a long-term offender by the Yukon Territorial Court.

Helen June Good was most recently arrested and charged in February 2009, after "viciously (assaulting) her husband, administering kicks and striking him with a chair” and breaking his jaw, according to Judge John Faulkner's summary of the case.

It wasn't the first time Good has attacked her partner. In 1997, she kicked and struck him in the face: "The result was serious lacerations requiring a number of stitches to close,” according to court documents.

In a 2001 attack, she left him with a broken jaw, wrist and arm, and he lost part of one ear. In this case, however, the man did not want to co-operate with prosecutors, and the case never went to court.

As Faulkner outlined in his decision, Good's violent history began in 1969.

"After a bout of drinking, Helen became involved in an argument with a woman named Effie Bill,” the judge recounted.

"The argument progressed to a fight, during which Ms. Bill was vanquished. As Ms. Bill lay helpless on the ground, Helen took a steak knife and slashed Ms. Bill's clothing, exposing her body.

"Helen next took a broken bottle and repeatedly slashed Ms. Bill's face and abdomen, causing her serious injuries and permanent disfigurement.”

In 1971, she was convicted on four counts of assault after she beat up a number of women. Then again in 1983.

The three counts of assault added to her record in 1988 were perpetrated on her three children.

The children were removed from their mother's home some five times during their youth, but were never saved. Good's two daughters are both dead from drugs, Faulkner said, and her son suffers from a serious psychiatric disorder.

Two years later, she was convicted again, this time after trying to gouge out a man's eyes when he asked

her to leave his home.

The victim lost one eye and the other was badly damaged.

This attack led to a psychological assessment, and Good was diagnosed with an antisocial personality disorder. In the doctor's opinion, "her potential for violence when under the influence of alcohol was very high and extended indefinitely.”

The same year, Good pleaded guilty to beating a girl of 12 into unconsciousness while in B.C.

Since that conviction, Good's violence has been focused on her husband, according to Faulkner's summary. When she was once again assessed by a psychologist in 2004, she "acknowledged that many of her assaults were premeditated. She would wait until her victim was too drunk to defend himself and then attack .... It was again noted that Helen's assaults followed a pattern: periods of calm, followed by drinking, followed by Helen becoming gratuitously and excessively violent,” Faulkner wrote.

Following the 59-year-old woman's most recent conviction, the Crown applied for a long-term offender designation, which means Good will be closely supervised for a number of years after she is released from prison.

The judge noted in his decision that "much of the therapy and counselling Helen has engaged in over the years has been ineffective at best and, more likely, counterproductive.

"It has allowed Helen to see herself only as a victim and to blame her violence on her own abuse. For instance, she reports and justifies assaulting men because they reminded her of her father. She has never developed any notable empathy for her victims.

"One of the most remarkable features of Helen's history of violence is its sheer persistence,” the judge wrote. "Now nearing 60, she continues to offend when most have burned out .... Indeed, if she again resorts to the use of alcohol, reoffending is a virtual certainty.”

Before considering the long-term offender application, Faulkner sentenced Good to a federal prison term of three years.

He rejected the argument that taking Good out of the treatment she is currently in at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre would be counterproductive.

"Helen has always participated in treatment while incarcerated but always repeats the pattern of offending once released .... much of the counselling Helen has sought out has actually been counterproductive,” Judge Faulkner wrote.

Moving on to the long-term offender designation, he said: "The offender's record of violence extends for over 40 years. It is punctuated only by periods of imprisonment or relatively brief periods of stability.

"The violence has continued to a time in life when most offenders have burned out. Her violent episodes are, most often, severe and, most often, perpetuated against defenceless victims.

"Despite years of therapy, the offender fails to take ownership of her violence, but continues to seek refuge in her own victimization as a justification. The assessments all say the same thing. She is at a very high risk to reoffend, particularly if she abuses alcohol.

"I hereby find Helen Good to be a long-term offender.”

The last Yukoner to be given such a designation was Douglas Hockley, a 25-year-old Ibex Valley man found guilty of two violent rapes.

The territorial Department of Justice does not keep statistics on how many long-term offenders are in the Yukon, and the probation services branch does not release that information to the public.

The federal government reports that of the 441 people labelled long-term offenders between 1997 and 2007, only four were women.