The Haper Conservatives, like conservatives everywhere, are tough on crime, big on law and order. Under the Liberals, no Canadians serving time in US jails were denied the right (or privilege) to serve part of their term in Canada during the period 1998 - 2005. According to documents obtained by the CBC, in the first 4 years of the Harper government, the percentage of refusals on the part of the federal government rose to 14.5%, 43%, 15.5% and a whopping 62% in 2009.
Such "toughness" of course appeals to their redneck populist base - and to many closet rednecks - but does it actually "make our streets safer"?
Here's some food for thought..
"Canadians convicted of crimes in the U.S. and serv(ing) their entire sentence there have no criminal record in Canada after they're deported back to their home country and are not given a supervised release.
That's right, the "tough on crime" boys, by refusing prison transfers to Canada, are providing criminals, when they return to Canada, with clean police records (at least for the crimes they served time for in the US). "Safer streets" - not so sure about that one..
It should also be noted that, while serving time in the US, Candian cons are NOT eligible for American rehabilitation programs because they are aliens! Such programs have been shown to reduce recidivism rates (some studies show a halving). Thus the ex-cons turned loose after serving a stint in US jails are more likely to re-offend than if they had been extradited and followed a rehabilitation program here. This is not good, definitely not good.. (But it does put on a good "tough on crime" show for the rubes..)
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