Criminal Law Test

Criminal code

Criminal code

Statute law, governs what is illegal in Canada

Summary Offence

Less serious offence

Indictable Offence

More serious offence with potential 2+ prison sentence

Actus Reus

Wrongful deed

Presumption of innocence

Belief that accused is innocent until proven guilty

Mens Rea

Guilty Mind

Burden of Proof

The crown must prove that the accused is guilty

Reasonable doubt

Crown must prove that accused is guilty beyond this to have them convicted

R V. Parks

Case in which man slept walk and drove to kill in laws

Appearance Notice

• Legal document stating criminal charge and court date

• usually used for summary convictions

Arrest Procedure

• identify self as police

• inform accused of charges

• right to counsel, right to remain silent

• touch accused to signify custody

Arrest Warrant

• court order for arrest of offender believed to be a risk to public

Release and bail

• may be permitted pending trial

• money guaranteed to court if accused fails to appear

Disclosure

• crown must share all evidence

• accused must understand

• defence must only disclose alibi

Surety

posts bail and accepts responsibility

Resolution Discussion

• crown and defence try to resolve before going to trial

• accused may plead guilty to lesser charges

• plea negotiation

Reverse Onus

only time accused has burden of proof is to justify being granted bail

Preliminary Hearing

• determines if there is enough evidence for a trial

• if there is not enough evidence, charges are dropped

• crown must establish prima facie (justification for trial)

Adversarial System

crown lawyer working for government against defence lawyer working for accused

Juries

• must be canadian citizen over 18. fluent in english or canadian and mentally competent

• chosen through jury hearing where they’ll be removed by lawyers if they have any potential bias

Direct Evidence

Usually a witness testimony

Circumstantial Evidence

• tries to link accused to crime through circumstance and physical evidence

Opinion

• based on observations from an expert

Voir Dire

trial within trial held to determine admissibility of evidence

Self Incrimination

• charter protects witnesses from incriminating themselves

• only exception is perjury

• may be arrested right after leaving court if they do incriminate themselves

Similar Fact

• pattern of behaviour with similar offences in past

Polygraph

• monitors blood pressure

• not reliable as evidence

• investigative tool

Hearsay

• information from a third party

Confession

• admittance of guilt

• must be given voluntarily

Opinion

• based on observations from an expert

NCR

• not criminally responsible

Intoxication

• no guilty mind due to influence of alcohol or drugs

• partial defence

R V. Lavallee

• woman shot abusive husband in back of head

• set precedent of Battered women syndrome

Self Defence

• reasonable force to protect oneself

• only as much force as is necessary

Necessity

• Forced to commit a crime due to danger

• must be imminent risk

Provocation

• provoked to lose self control and commit a crime

• partial defence

Double Jeopardy

• unable to be punished twice for one act

Purposes of Sentencing

• denouncing unlawful conduct

• Deterrence (specific and general)

• Segregation

• Rehabilitation

Aggravating Circumstances

• factors that demonstrate need for harsher sentence

Mitigating Circumstances

• factors that demonstrate need for less severe sentence

Victim Impact Statement

• victim describes how offence has impacted their life

Absolute Discharge

• released without conditions and no criminal record

Conditional Discharge

• released with terms that must be followed to not be given a criminal record

Suspended Sentence

• Punishment isn’t carried out if conditions are met

Probation

• Offender lives in community with conditions and supervision

• Maintains criminal record

Conditional Sentence

• serve time in the community rather than a prison

Suspension of Privilege

• certain right is taken away for specific or indefinite amount of time

• usually a drivers license

Peace Bond

• Requirement to keep peace for up to 12 months

• Common for less severe assaults or harassment

Restitution

• Compensation payed to victim for harm caused

Community Service

• Order to perform work in community for specific amount of hours

• Associates offender with non-criminals

Deportation

• Non-Canadian citizens convicted of crimes are sent back to their country of origin

Extradition

• Canadians who commit crimes in another country are sent there to stand trial

Fines

• Sum to be payed, usually for summary convictions

• Fine option program allows offenders to work to pay off fine

Prison

• the most serious sentence for a crime

• imprisoned for amount of time relative to severity of crime

Concurrent Sentence

• More than 2 offences being served at the same tome

Consecutive Sentence

• at least 2 offences served one after another

Intermittent Sentence

• 90 days or less served on weekends or at night

Principle of Totality

• considers all circumstances of sentence to ensure it is fair

Capital Punishment

• death penalty

• abolished from criminal code in 1976

Restorative Justice

• approach to sentencing that focuses on forgiveness and involves the community

Appeals

• Both crown and defence may appeal a conviction

• Appellant requests appeal and the opposing party is the respondent

Parole

• Eligible after 1/3 of sentence or 8 years

• Reviewed by parole board based on behaviour in prison

Criminal Records

• Hinders job and travel opportunities

• Restricts from performing bonding jobs in which handling values is required

First Degree Murder

• planned and deliberate

• victim is law enforcement

• killing occurs while another crime is being committed

• automatic life sentence with no parole before 25 years

2nd degree murder

• Intentional killing without criteria of 1st degree

• Life sentence but parole after 10 years

Manslaughter

• Unintentionally causing the death of another

• Mens rea proves a reasonable person could have foreseen risk

• no minimum sentence unless firearms are involved, in which case it is 4 years in jail