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Record Suspension – omnibus crime bill passes

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National Pardon
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Record Suspension

The Conservatives omnibus crime bill passed on March 12, 2012. The various pieces of legislation have yet to take effect so at the moment a record suspension is still called a pardon. But in the near future the name will be changed and Canadians will be applying for a record suspension rather than a pardon.

Aside from some changes to the rules governing who is eligible for a pardon and when, a record suspension and a pardon are the same thing. Please beware of some of our less sincere competitors who have used this legislation as a means of making a quick sale. I have received many complaints that people were told pardons would no longer be available. This is simply not true. To say it again, a record suspension is the same thing as a pardon.

So what did change as a result of the Conservative’s omnibus crime bill?

1. Pardons will be renamed to Record Suspension.

2. Waiting periods for eligibility will be extended from the current 3, 5 or 10 years to 5 or 10 years.

3. Record suspensions for sexual offences involving a minor will no longer be permitted.

4. Anyone convicted of more than 3 indictable offences where the sentence was more than two years in prison for EACH offence will be ineligible for a record suspension.

Taken as a whole the bill was a lot more about politics than effecting sensible policy. The name change is purely ceremonial. Since it has no effect on the lives of people who are just trying to get on the right track I have no problem with it.

Making sexual offenders ineligible is obviously going to be a popular measure but it is one I don’t support having actually looked at the evidence.

Sexual offenders re-offend at a low rate and since they remain forever flagged in a separate database, granting a record suspension in order to obtain a decent job seems like just plain common sense.

If the purpose of this kind of legislation is to keep children safe I would have preferred to see a measure that required groups working with children to screen applicants through the appropriate background checks that would reveal a sexual offence. Unfortunately such a thing was not discussed which, in my opinion says a lot about the Conservative’s government stance when it comes to safety.

The three strikes rule is such notoriously bad policy, having failed in pretty much every place on earth. I have trouble understanding how an educated person could propose it, let alone an elected government official whose job it is to understand criminal justice. Yet here we are. Three strikes and you’re out. Batter up!

The change that will affect our clients the most is the increase in waiting periods. A record suspension will demand 5 or 10 years pass before the person can finally put things in the past and find a decent job. It’s punishment over rehabilitation, a measure which is sure to backfire.

I would just like to congratulate the Conservative government. Through bullying and pressure tactics and because it has a majority it was able to pass nine separate pieces of crime legislation that is sure to put Canada on a path similar to the United States. That country has more people per capita incarcerated than anywhere else in the world. It’s a clear indication of policy that has failed to do what it was supposed to.  Stephen Harper, Rob Nicholson and Vic Toews are no doubt very proud of that accomplishment.

Strange days indeed.

Comments

5 Responses to “Record Suspension – omnibus crime bill passes”

  1. Darren Avatar
    Darren

    Seems to me a lot of people out there wanted this omnibus bill to pass, after all this bill was one of the conservatives election promises. The people of Canada made the decision to give the conservatives a majority government exactly because the conservatives are doing what the people are telling them to do. Most Canadians want criminals to be punished, they are sick of this hand slapping, they are tired of the courts not seeing the victims anymore and just focusing on the “poor” offender, they are frustrated with weak sentences. All I know is that my friends and family will feel a lot safer knowing violent offenders, drug dealers/producers, gangsters and sexual predators are actually doing hard time compared to no time. People need to think twice before they break the law, if you don’t want to go to jail don’t break laws. If criminals are two stupid to see this common sense approach you do not deserve to be out in the public. As for record suspensions, criminals should of thought about the consequences before they committed the offence. Criminals: remember your victims as they are the ones who carry the true record, the record of what you did, the record which remains in their hearts and minds forever. Strange days indeed.

    Reply
    1. CRC Avatar
      CRC

      Darren. I don’t think you realize that some people aren’t brought up with proper values instilled in them. By the age of 19, you have only been brought up by your parents and who they associate with who may not have given you the tools needed to distinguish right from wrong. People who are criminals have usually been raised with that in their surrounding with hardly an idea or example of what being a decent person is.
      I could go off in many tangents regarding this subject, but I just wanted to bring it to your attention that not all criminals want to be bad, they have usually hurt the most and need to be educated rather than put away.

      “In a perfect world we would have all the resources required to help rehabilitate those who seek it however we all know this will never happen. ”

      We have plenty of time and money to give to the cause of bettering our populous, Sadly those resources are going towards programs that proliferate the issue rather than solve it.
      The government gives money to a cause.. in this case crime. That money then is used to create an establishment that will disperse the money on Jails, employee’s, and administrative costs with no real plan for preventing the issue of crime.
      The criminal then is seen as a functioning member of society because they are basically creating jobs for people.

      You must see that there is easily enough resource for a large amount of the criminal population to be rehabilitated. The only people who actually want to be criminals just for fun are the people who need to be in a mental institution. Most people are criminals because they don’t know what it is to not be a criminal, or they have tried a life of decency and ben too poor to feed themselves or their family.

      This is a matter for society to take upon itself. Every criminal record created is not only a mark on the criminal but also on the society that the criminal is from.

      Reply
      1. CRC Avatar
        CRC

        ahh I accidently pressed enter and just wanted to add more punctuation..

        Darren. I don’t think you realize that some people aren’t brought up with proper values instilled in them. By the age of 19, you have only been brought up by your parents and who they associate. Those people through example, may not have given the child the tools needed to distinguish right from wrong. And in a way not allowing the child to learn what the “right” thing to do in certain situations is.

        I could go off in many tangents regarding this subject, but I just wanted to bring it to your attention that not all criminals want to be bad, they have usually hurt the most and need to be educated rather than put away.

        “In a perfect world we would have all the resources required to help rehabilitate those who seek it however we all know this will never happen. ”

        We have plenty of time and money to give to the cause of bettering our populous. Sadly those resources are going towards programs that proliferate the issue rather than solve it.
        The government gives money to a cause.. in this case crime. That money then is used to create an establishment that will disperse the money on building Jails, employing Jails, and other administrative costs (don’t forget bonuses) with no real plan for preventing the issue of crime.
        The criminal then is seen as a functioning member of society because they are basically creating jobs for people.

        You must see that there is easily enough resource for a large amount of the criminal population to be rehabilitated. The only people who actually want to be criminals are people who need to be in a mental institution. Most people who turn to crime are criminals because they don’t know what it is to not be a criminal, or they have tried a life of decency and been put into a situation where they needed more money than they were able to live off of.

        This is a matter for society to take upon itself. Every criminal record created is not only a mark on the criminal but also on the society that the criminal is from.

        Reply
  2. Anon Avatar
    Anon

    Darren, I don’t think many would argue with the supposed intent of the omnibus crime bill. You are right, most people want criminals to be punished. I, for one, completely agree with you on that point. But they should be punished in a way that actually DO make the streets safer. The measures taken in this bill have been proven not to work in other parts of the world and, in many case, actually INCREASE crime rates. The pardon rules are of special concern. Pardons occur AFTER the sentence — AFTER the punishment has taken place, and AFTER the individual has shown a desire to re-integrate into society. The new laws make it longer for theese individuals to re-integrate and, in some cases, impossible. The law fails to take into consideration case-related circumstances which may be relevant. I agree that pardons should not be a rubber-stamp situation where everyone gets it after a certain amount of time. But there should be a process where everyone has the opportunity to show that they have the desire to change. The law, as it stands now, does not always give that opportunity. As it stands now, a murderer can get a pardon (record suspension) after serving his 25 years in prison + 10 years, yet someone with 3 counts of marijuana possession or petty theft is possibly ineligible for life. Explain that one to me…

    Also, if you are going to change the rules, fine, but make it looking forward. There are lots of people out there who waited out there years, building their lives back for that day they can finally get a pardon, only to find out all of a sudden that the rug is pulled from under them and they have to wait all over again. The sentence is already served, they were already punished, and now, because somebody feels like it, they are being punished again. That is not fair.

    You bring up the victims. Yes, in cases where there are victims, they are hurt. That is why the law punishes the criminal. But that is only one half of the law. The other half is to help the former criminal to become a useful contributor to society. The current pardon laws do not allow that to happen. They also create new victims — the families of the person who committed the offense, who want to move on but can’t because the ex-criminal cannot get a job.

    So in summary, my argument is this: yes, get tough on crime. Yes, do something to make the streets safe. But take the time to do it in a way that actually WORKS. Do it in a way that brings more good than harm. Take the time to create a law that addresses the true problems, rather than simply applying a bandaid solution that doesn’t really solve the root problem, for political gain rather than actual societal improvement.

    Reply
    1. Darren Avatar
      Darren

      I can understand where you are coming     from when it comes to persons who have been punished and who are seeking a clean slate. The question is do they deserve it? I feel multiple convictions for what some feel as petty offences does not necessarily mean they should get a record suspension when they have finally cleaned their act up, I feel a criminal record is part of the punishment and multiple convictions is  an aggravating factor. As for murderers, well every murderer whom I have ever met is still on parole for life once they are released and there is no chance of their criminal record ever disappearing (I may be wrong, hopefully not). In a perfect world we would have all the resources required to help rehabilitate those who seek it however we all know this will never happen. I don’t have the answer and nobody else does, if a solution existed we would not be exchanging blogs lol. I do commend those who choose to turn their lives around and I encourage them to talk our youth and anyone else about their mistakes and the lessons learned. Please don’t view me as a person who is all about “Fire and Brimstone” as I am not like that, I just feel our courts have become to lenient that’s all. 

      “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana

      Cheers,

      Darren

      Reply

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