What the pardon system does is say you can legally say "I have no criminal convictions" if you behave for a number of years.
The police still have your record (and the US generally doesn't recognise our pardons) but it's a (small) but useful incentive to rehabilitation.
Perhaps it should be renamed (call it "waiver of record of conviction"?) but we shouldn't go all frantic and eliminate it -- unless we plan perpetual imprisonment or capital punishment we need to rehabilitate and pardons are a useful tool:
Parole board must recognize 'certain types of criminals cannot be rehabilitated,' Public Safety Minister says in wake of sex-offender furor
Daniel Leblanc Ottawa— The Globe and Mail
The Conservative government is vowing to bring new legislation making it harder for some criminals – including sexual predators – to obtain a pardon in Canada.
In an interview, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he will change the workings of the National Parole Board in the wake of the furor sparked by the 2007 pardon of Graham James, the hockey coach who preyed on his teenage players.
Mr. Toews made it clear he wants to make it harder for the board to issue pardons for some crimes, including those of a sexual nature, compared to pardons for offences like an impaired driving charge.
"I'm going to make legislation happen, I am going to bring forward and it will be up to the House to pass it," he said. "I obviously have to consider the advice of my department and victims' groups and police groups and others, but I'm committed to making this happen."
James Morton
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2 comments:
So basically... people have no idea what pardon actually does and the practical impact of giving James a pardon is somewhere between 'token' and 'nil'?
The problem is the pardon law appears to say that a convicted person is ENTITLED to a pardon if they meet the criteria. It is a very Liberal approach to criminal justice to remove the idea that a pardon should be earned. James received a pardon simply because he either did not commit a crime or he did not get caught in one in the years after his conviction. That should not be enough to "earn" a pardon. And maybe that's why the US doesn't recognize our pardons.
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