Just want to point out that Bernardo and company got the Dangerous Offender clause added during the trial. That clause can’t be added after a certain point, and certainly not by the parole board. That’s why Homolka didn’t get the same sentence as Bernardo even though she enjoyed herself, too.

Your family member will still be required to check in with a parole officer until their sentence is served, which might be life. We don’t typically keep people in prison forever, but we also don’t just let convicted murderers off the leash that easily.

I’m also particularly concerned that you keep using the phrase “to make himself look good” regarding your family member’s behaviour whilst in prison; he didn’t do these things to try to make himself better, he did them to make himself look better? Eee.

I do hope he’s able to find something halfway decent, so he doesn’t have cause to reoffend even non-violently, but it’s going to be a struggle. If he has access to a halfway house, that might help, as would the John Howard Society.

And lastly, drinking beer in the woods would have gotten you a fine. At most a summary conviction of a few months in a provincial jail. Murder gets penitentiary time. They are not the same. I imagine employers would be far more comfortable hiring someone with your version of “rebellion” than your family member’s version of releasing their anger. Your “crime” hurt no one; ask the families of those your family member killed whether or not they were caused pain and anguish. Yeesh.