Prisoners of politics

摘要

Few political promises are such tried and trusted crowd pleasers as the vow to get tough on crime. But what is a politician to do when the crime rate is at a 30-year low and both the rate and the severity of reported crime has been dropping? If you are Stephen Harper, Canada's prime minister, you pledge to keep "law-abiding Canadians and their families" safe, and introduce a series of bills that will put more people in prison for longer and make it harder for convicts to win early release.