MANDATORY MINIMUMS AND THE TRANSFER OF POWER

MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES and the transfer of power away from Judges. This, simply, is how it works. Let’s take a typical child pornography case. In order to induce a plea of guilty a Crown Attorney can offer to proceed by summary conviction and only seek the mms of 90 days in jail and agree to let the person serve the sentence on weekends. Don’t want to play ball? The Crown will proceed to seek the maximum of 18 months or elect to proceed by indictment where the mms is 6 months and the maximum is 5 years. Plead guilty to one count and you’re registered as a sex offender for 10 years but found guilty of two counts you’re registered for life. No Judge involved. How much of a gambler are you?

Mandatory minimums, maximum harm | The McGill Daily.

SUSPENDED INVALIDITY – how does that work?

Today the Supreme Court of Canada declared the laws making doctor assisted suicide invalid but suspended the invalidity for one year to allow parliament to respond. So what happens in the next year if a doctor assists a patient in committing suicide? Is the doctor criminally liable? What happens if the doctor is convicted and sentenced to jail within that year? What happens if the trial doesn’t take place until after the year of invalidity?

Carter v. Canada (Attorney General) – SCC Cases (Lexum).

OVERCRIMINALIZATION – the backward direction our government is taking Canada.

 ” It is surprisingly easy for otherwise law-abiding citizens to run afoul of the overwhelming number of federal and state criminal laws. This proliferation is sometimes referred to as “overcriminalization,” which affects us all but most profoundly harms our disadvantaged citizens. How did we get in this situation? It began with well-intentioned lawmakers who went overboard trying to solve perceived or actual problems.”

The Overcriminalization of America – Charles G. Koch and Mark V. Holden – POLITICO Magazine.

This Man Faces Life in Prison for … Rapping | David Loy

This article wouldn’t usually get my attention because it is an “American” experience, but with Harper’s use of terrorism to Americanize our laws and incarcerate people for expression, this is perhaps something we should pay attention to, because it’s coming here, sad to say.

This Man Faces Life in Prison for … Rapping | David Loy.

Can domestic abusers be rehabilitated? – The Globe and Mail

DOMESTIC ASSAULT – If you’ve been charged you might benefit from reading this article. “love, expressed as violence, and violence described as love” The process is “automatic laying of charges in domestic-abuse complaints, stricter jail sentences, the use of separation and restraining orders, forfeiture of parental rights, and other now-standard tools of criminal justice.”

Can domestic abusers be rehabilitated? – The Globe and Mail.

US & THEM

US & THEM – People commonly ask me how can I defend guilty people? Firstly I am amazed that every single one of us does not have a criminal record because we have ALL transgressed the law one or more times during our lives and probably deserve one. Secondly, most of my clients are just like you and me who have found themselves in a situation, whether of their own making (making bad decisions, exercising poor judgement) or not of their own making (being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the recipient of someone’s vindictiveness, suffering from a mental illness or condition) and who are ill equipped to deal with a crisis situation, who act out or make mistakes. Most of my clients are not happy to have to see me and never want to see me again at the end. So when I get all up in your face about my client’s constitutional rights and fairness and judicial discretion and police abuse of power and so on, I’m fighting this fight for YOU. You just don’t know it yet.