The justice system in Canada is a complicated arrangement of organizations, agencies, and courts which all function together in order to curb crime, keep the peace, and protect Canadians. A good is an example is that of how the Supreme Court of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will both strive for the same goal of maintaining such objectives. That being said, the rehabilitation of criminals in indeed a big focus of such entities, and the reduction of the chance of their crimes being committed again.
Those that have perpetrated a crime in the past will have a stronger chance of committing the felony once again. Such a phenomenon is called “recidivism”. The government entity which is charged with overseeing sentences is known as The Correctional Service of Canada. It also manages correctional institutions, as well upholding the supervision of offenders following their conditional release back into society. There will be a variation of methodologies being employed in order to help offenders be returned into society. Such methods will obviously include conditional sentence orders, probations, programs calibrated to ready individuals for a particular level of employment, as well as various educational programs.
What is now known as a Record Suspension (known previously as a Pardon) will be issued by the Criminal Records act, which will then be granted by the government. Such a process will block an individual’s criminal record from public view, permitting the peaceful and destigmatized application for work. A granted Pardon can also be viewed as a reflection of an individual’s congenial attitude and behaviour. One will find their mind is stilled, and that their reputation is now being boosted. The provision of a chance for freedom from the stigmas of being a convict will influence those serving time to conduct themselves with the proper discipline and progressive behaviour.
Such Pardons were granted to Canadians in their contemporary form since the 1970s, however, the foundational conceptualization of criminal clemency has been in Canada for more than one hundred years. Since the 1970s, there have been well over half a million Pardons issued by the Canadian government, and 95% of which are still in circulation today, which points to the fact that a vast majority of these pardoned individuals have remained true to their rehabilitations. Such statistics prove that those who are truly motivated to be reintegrated into society will act accordingly. The logic here is that if the past mistakes continue to affect individuals, they will struggle to reintegrate into society adequately. Such a lenience on former criminals provides a wealth of benefits to society, such as less crowded prisons, a more relaxed police and court system, and a generally safer level of communities within which Canadians live.
It is a privilege for Canadians to exist in a country in which past wrongdoings can be excused. If you are passionate about a second chance and wish for the end to anxiety and a better chance at employment that a Pardon brings then you should go through the right channels of doing so.
