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But, even if deportation is to be treated conceptually as a form of punishment, the three-year limit recommended by the review is essential. The removal of that limit is at odds not only with the idea of punishment but with the principle of rehabilitation. Without the three-year limit, some quite serious offenders, including sex offenders, who have neither been punished nor, as far as we know, rehabilitated could be removed to places where they could go on to commit crimes. Are we really going to say that it is not our problem because those victims, including potentially children, are foreigners? When dealing with serious offenders, whether national or foreign, we have a responsibility towards both their past victims and their potential future victims.