SOC 1500 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Life Imprisonment, Mandatory Sentencing, Prison
1 Jun 2018
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SOC 1500
CHAPTER 11
SENTENCING
Introduction
• Process is involved and time consuming
• More serious the offence, the longer it takes to come up with an appropriate sentence
• Violent offences
o Number of reports and assessments may be ordered
• Guided by the Charter and the Criminal Code
• Judges impose sentences
• 90% of criminal cases are resolved through plea bargaining
• Judges are responsible for work that is stressful and carried out in public
Sentencing Options
• Probation
o Most commonly imposed sentence in Canada
o Release of the offender into the community under the supervision of a probation officer
o Mandatory conditions
▪ Keeping the peace
▪ Good behaviour
▪ Reporting to the court when required
▪ Advising the probation officer of any changes in address or job
o Judges can impose optional conditions
▪ Addictions treatment
o Strict conditions
▪ Curfew
▪ Residency clause
▪ Abstain from drugs and/or alcohol
▪ Limit contact with certain individuals
o Restitution orders, fine, or requirements for community service work
▪ Offender must work in the community in jobs such as picking up garbage along
highways
o Pre-sentence report
▪ A report ordered by judges prior to sentencing to provide a comprehensive
oerie of a offeder’s stregths ad eakesses, ad hether prior justie
system interventions were successful
• Conditional Sentences
o Allows offenders to serve their custody sentences in the community if their follow a
number of strict conditions
o Judges ill use if they thik you o’t e a dager to the ouity ad you do’t hae
a history of failing to obey court orders
o Usually has strict conditions
o Introduced to reduce the use of incarceration
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Offer an offender a last change to avoid a correctional centre or prison sentence
• Custodial Sentences
o Offenders sentenced to a term of incarceration of less than two years serve their
sentences in provincial or territorial correctional centres
o Concurrent sentence
▪ Multiple sentences that are served at the same time
▪ 4 sentences of break and entering and serving at the same time
• Out in 9 months
o Consecutive sentence
▪ Multiple sentences that accumulate
▪ 4 sentences served at different times
• Out in 36 months
o Intermittent sentences
▪ Allow offender to serve on several days a week (weekends)
▪ Probational orders when not incarcerated
▪ Able to maintain jobs, family commitments, and/or education
o Breach probation
▪ Occurs when an offender violates the conditions of their probation
o Failure to comply
▪ Violating the conditions of a probation order is a criminal offence that can result
in additional charges and further punishments
▪ Common
▪ Lack of respect for the justice system
▪ Can make it difficult for individuals to receive a community-based sentence in
the future
o Administration of justice offences
▪ Offences that occur because an offender disobeys a pretrial condition or the
sentence imposed
▪ Failure to attend court or failure to comply with a probation order
• Other options
o Absolute discharge, conditional discharge, suspended sentence, community service
order, and prohibition order
o An absolute discharge involves a finding of guilt but a conviction is not registered
▪ A person who has either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of an offence is
deemed not to have been convicted
▪ An absolute discharge is only available in situations where
• There is no minimum penalty for the offence
• The offence is not punishable by imprisonment for 14 years or life
• The court considers an absolute discharge to be in the best interests of
the accused and not contrary to the public interests
▪ More likely to be considered for first-time and younger adult offenders
▪ Considered the least severe sanction that can be imposed that results in a
finding of guilt but no conviction is registered
o Conditional discharge
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Introduction: process is involved and time consuming, more serious the offence, the longer it takes to come up with an appropriate sentence, violent offences, number of reports and assessments may be ordered. Judges impose sentences: guided by the charter and the criminal code, 90% of criminal cases are resolved through plea bargaining. Judges are responsible for work that is stressful and carried out in public. Judges can impose optional conditions: addictions treatment, strict conditions, curfew, residency clause, abstain from drugs and/or alcohol. Judges (cid:449)ill use if they thi(cid:374)k you (cid:449)o(cid:374)"t (cid:271)e a da(cid:374)ger to the (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)u(cid:374)ity a(cid:374)d you do(cid:374)"t ha(cid:448)e a history of failing to obey court orders: usually has strict conditions. Interprovincial sentencing differences: 1/3 of all canadian offenders found guilty were incarcerated. Location of sentencing: race, gender, class, financial situations. Limits the credits that judges could allow for time defendants spent on remand.
