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Suspension, not expungement: Rationalizing misguided policy decisions around cannabis amnesty in Canada
Author(s) -
McAleese Samantha
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/capa.12345
Subject(s) - legalization , rationality , amnesty , bureaucracy , political science , collateral , call for bids , status quo , possession (linguistics) , economic justice , law , government (linguistics) , cannabis , law and economics , economics , politics , psychology , procurement , linguistics , philosophy , psychiatry , management
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians continue to carry the burden of convictions for minor possession of cannabis obtained prior to legalization. Despite support for an automatic expungement process to eliminate the collateral consequences of punishment, the Trudeau government opted for a less favourable policy instrument – record suspensions. Drawing from parliamentary debate and committee hearings, the author summarizes the discussion and debate on Bill C‐93 and analyzes this misguided decision using Miljan’s work on policy instrument choice and rationality. The emphasis on bureaucratic rationality specifically resulted in a maintenance of the status quo when it comes to criminal justice policy and an uninspiring approach to cannabis amnesty in Canada.