One long-term cost of America's love affair with incarceration will be a growing number of ex-convicts with even slimmer chances of finding a job than they had before they went to prison.

ECONOMIST: Out of sight, out of mind

Khairat al-Shater, a Muslim Brotherhood strongman, could be barred under a provision that bans ex-convicts from running for political office, even if they received pardons and were jailed for political crimes.

ECONOMIST: Rules tie Egypt��s politics in knots

But campaigners believe that if the SCSL convicts a former president for these sorts of crimes too, it would be an even bigger step towards ending impunity.

ECONOMIST: Charles Taylor on trial