Campbell: Senator (not minister) gets it right on criminal pardons via TheGrowthOp
They favoured the swiftness and sureness of physical punishments, and branding with a hot iron had particular efficiencies. It not only punished the offender, it also left the record of criminality visible for all to see. Nothing like a “T” branded on your face or hand to permanently record your offence of theft.
But that created the question: how long do you keep the paper record? Should the crime be held against you forever? British monarchs were of the view that that could be a long time to suffer the consequences of some offences, and the Royal Prerogative of Mercy was their tool to erase the conviction, end the punishment or seal the record in highly deserving cases.
Once a person had been held accountable through conviction, and had fulfilled the sentence, and had proven through a waiting period that they had turned away from crime, what was being achieved by continuing to hold it against them?The new program worked well. Ex-offenders who had done everything that was expected of them were able to continue a law-abiding life without the stigma of the record.
The 2015 Liberal government was well aware of these concerns. Instead of acting immediately, a year passed, another year passed, another year passed. Finally, instead of the coherent overhaul that was needed, the government addressed only those cases where the record was for offences that no longer exist. Now that’s a good thing, no argument. But this piecemeal reform does nothing, repeat nothing, to remedy the other existing problems with the pardon program.
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