Sentencing

Denunciation of unlawful and harmful conduct
- Purpose is to publicly condemn wrongful actions that are harmful.
Deterrence
- Aimed at dissuading individuals from committing offenses; can be general (deter society) or specific (deter the individual).
Separation from society
- Involves isolating the offender to protect the community and prevent further harm.
Rehabilitation
- Focused on reforming the offender to reintegrate them into society as a law-abiding citizen.
Reparation
- The offender is required to make amends for the harm caused to victims.
Promoting a sense of responsibility
- Encourages offenders to acknowledge their wrongdoing and its impact on others.
Proportionality
- Sentencing must be proportionate to the severity of the crime and the responsibility of the offender.
Principle of restraint
- Courts should impose the least severe sentence necessary to achieve the aims of sentencing.

Utilitarian Goals
- General Deterrence: Helps prevent future crime by others in society.
- Specific Deterrence: Affects only the individual offender to prevent recidivism.
- Rehabilitation: Focused on fixing underlying issues leading to criminal behavior.
- Incapacitation: Seeks to physically remove the offender from society to prevent harm.
Retributive Goals
- Denunciation: Social condemnation of the crime.
- Retribution: Seeking vengeance for the crime committed and ensuring justice is served.
Restorative Goals
- Focuses on resolving problems associated with the crime; aims to involve the offender, victim, and community in the restorative process.

Discharge
- Absolute Discharge: Offender is found guilty but not convicted; record removed after one year.
- Conditional Discharge: Offender must comply with probation conditions, or face further penalties.
Fine
- Obligation to pay a specified amount of money within a defined period; failure results in imprisonment.
Forfeiture
- Offenders may have to surrender criminal proceeds to the Crown (government).
Prohibitions
- Court-imposed conditions that restrict certain activities, possession, or relationships.
Suspended Sentence
- Conviction exists but sentence is suspended pending compliance with conditions, usually probation.
Conditional Sentence
- Offender serves their sentence in the community under supervision instead of in jail.
Intermittent Sentence
- Custodial sentence served part-time, typically not exceeding 90 days.
Imprisonment
- Offender is sentenced to serve time in either a provincial or federal institution.

Concurrent Sentences
- Sentences served simultaneously, allowing for more than one offense's punishment to occur at the same time (Criminal Code, 1985).
Consecutive Sentences
- Sentences served one after another; this approach is taken under circumstances outlined in the Provincial Offences Act (1990) and the Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act (2011).

Aggravating Factors
- Negative factors that increase sentence severity (e.g., violence, exploiting authority).
Mitigating Factors
- Factors that may decrease the sentence severity (e.g., Indigenous status, addiction issues).
Case Law Precedents
- Previous similar sentences influential in current decisions; important for ensuring fairness and consistency.
Pre-Sentence Reports (PSRs)
- Prepared by probation officers, summarizing offender’s background, situation, and risks; helps inform sentencing options.
Victim Impact Statements
- Detail the psychological and physical harm to the victim and the overall consequences experienced.
Psychological Assessments
- Evaluate offenders' mental states and treatment needs.
Consideration of Indigenous Offenders
- Section 718.2(e) requires alternative considerations for Indigenous offenders to avoid automatic incarceration.
Cultural Assessments for Black Offenders
- Increasingly requested legal evaluations to address the specific contexts affecting black offenders.

First Threshold
- Offender has committed at least one serious personal injury offense.
Second Threshold
- Established pattern indicating difficulty in controlling behavior; constitutes a threat to life, safety, or well-being of others.

Legal Provision
- Section 753 of the Criminal Code allows for designating someone as a long-term offender.
Eligibility Requirements
- Offender must have received a sentence longer than two years and pose a substantial risk of reoffending after release.
Supervision
- Long-term supervision order will result in up to 10 years of monitoring by a parole officer after completing the sentence.

Specific considerations in sentencing Indigenous offenders, promoting culturally appropriate approaches and understanding the community context.

Three Important Steps
- Identify relevant factors in the case.
- Identify applicable law that governs the case.
- Combine factual circumstances with law to achieve a just outcome in sentencing.

Section 718.1 of the Criminal Code states that the fundamental principle of sentencing is proportionality; the sentence must reflect the crime's gravity and the offender's responsibility level.

Under section 718.2(b), similar crimes by similar offenders in comparable circumstances should incur similar sentences; this principle is vital for preserving consistency in judicial outcomes.

Importance of victim impact statements in the sentencing process; narratives by victims that reflect the profound effects of crime.

Criminal Court Principles
- Crime defined narrowly; resolution focuses on sentencing.
- Emphasis on past wrongful conduct, not on social conflict.
- The sentence is the critical part of the process.
Circle Sentencing Principles
- Crime seen within the larger context of societal conflict.
- Sentencing considered only a fraction of the broader resolution process.
- Forward-looking focus on future behavior.
- Emphasizes social harmony and relationships over punitive outcomes.
- Process is paramount; fosters interrelations among all stakeholders involved in the case.