Research from the conversation with Anmol
- The federal government has the exclusive right to write criminal laws, the provinces can only enforce it
- Anmol links to a news release from Ontario that suggests the federal government being soft on crime is the problem
- It mentions the federal government reducing minimum sentencing for multiple crimes, which is a reference to Bill C-5
- Under section 742.1 of the Criminal Code, the court may allow the person to “serve the sentence in the community”, if it follows sections 742.3
- 742.3 (1) The court shall prescribe, as conditions of a conditional sentence order, that the offender do all of the following: (a) keep the peace and be of good behaviour; (b) appear before the court when required to do so by the court; (c) report to a supervisor (i) within two working days, or such longer period as the court directs, after the making of the conditional sentence order, and (ii) thereafter, when required by the supervisor and in the manner directed by the supervisor; (d) remain within the jurisdiction of the court unless written permission to go outside that jurisdiction is obtained from the court or the supervisor; and (e) notify the court or the supervisor in advance of any change of name or address, and promptly notify the court or the supervisor of any change of employment or occupation.
- point (c) used to say “the offence is not an offence, prosecuted by way of indictment, for which the maximum term of imprisonment is 14 years or life;”
- THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: The maximum crime for motor vehicle theft at the time C-5 was passed was 10 years, so the amendment to section 742.1 never applied to motor vehicle theft in the first place
- A fair argument might be that the government should impose higher minimum sentencing for more crimes, but then you can’t claim that the LPC removed minimum sentencing as if it’s relevant to this conversation
- The provincial government doesn’t write laws, it only enforces them. So, are they doing enough?
- Crown attorneys and provincial judges are employees of the province. As such, they can be instructed via the provincial government and the Attorney General to be harsher on crime. They can even be fired for it, but that might be a PR trap so that’s rare
- So, crown attorneys and judges have to seek/apply sentences within the bounds of the federal law, but provincial policies and instructions can guide which end of that range is given out
- Why are provincial prosecutors/judges not giving out harsher punishments?
- TODO: THERE’S PROBABLY MORE TO IT THAN THIS
- THEORY: Ontario’s jails are over capacity (CBC). There are more inmates than beds
- If I cared more I’d go through every point, but I no longer have trust in it