Justice Minister Vic Toews this morning tabled amendments to the Criminal Code that the Conservatives say will make the law tougher on dangerous and high-risk offenders. From the backgrounder distributed by the Department of Justice, here’s how things will work on the so-called ‘three strikes’ provision:
A) Changes to Dangerous Offender legislation:
The Dangerous Offender provisions, Part XXIV of the Criminal Code of Canada, are intended to protect all Canadians from the most dangerous and violent sexual predators in the country. These proposed reforms are aimed at achieving the objective of protecting innocent Canadians from future harm, by ensuring that the offender remains in prison until a risk no longer exists.Under the reformed legislation:
i) An individual will be presumed to meet the criteria for a Dangerous Offender designation when he or she gets a third conviction for a designated violent or sexual crime that is subject to a federal sentence of at least two years. A Dangerous Offender designation will not be automatic. The burden will be on the offender to explain why he or she should not be designated a dangerous offender. The judge retains discretion to refuse the application.
ii) The current onus on the Crown to prove that the Dangerous Offender sentence is appropriate in the circumstances will be removed. This codification of the principle established in the 2003 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Johnson is an important reform that has the support of all provincial and territorial jurisdictions.
iii) The time allowed for the filing of a psychiatric assessment will be extended to 30 days from 15 days, as well as allowing for an additional extension of 30 days. This addresses a procedural difficulty identified by all provincial and territorial jurisdictions.
iv) The court now must hear a Dangerous Offender application if it is satisfied reasonable grounds exist for such a finding. This resolves a technical issue in the current provisions that had allowed courts to refuse to hear such an application.
v) Following conviction of a third designated serious violent/sexual offence, the Crown must declare in open court whether it intends to bring a Dangerous Offender application. This will increase vigilance among provincial Crown prosecutors to pursue such applications when there are adequate grounds to do so.[Source: Department of Justice]