1. SENTENCING ALTERNATIVES

2. WHAT ARE INTERMEDIATE SANCTIONS?
What are some advantages?
Saves money

3. SENTENCING OPTIONS: Absolute discharge Conditional discharge
Suspended sentence
Intermittent sentence
House arrest (EM)
Which province was first to use EM?
Probation
ADULT Max. length
YOUTH Max. length
“Super probation”10 years - high-risk offenders
Intensive probation
1. Absolute discharge- Comes before a judge and the judge says the individual has no discharge. Its like it never happened. Its like a “get out of jail free” card. Key word no criminal record
2. Conditional- individual has to satisfy come discharge. Eg you have to work 70 hours of community service.
3. Suspended- individual is convicted of the offence and has a record. Given no sentence and they has conditions to fulfil and after that they have no sentence. Suspended gets you a record conditional doesn’t . Reserved only for adults (People over the age of 18)
4. Intermittent- when you go to jail but only on weekends.
House arrest- goes with electronic monitoring. Can detect a persons whereabout. Doesn’t mean they cant leave their house but they have limits.
5. British colombia, saskachawan and new finland
Probation- Mandatory

4. Probation Mandatory/optional conditions Adult max length 3years
Youth max length 2years
Dual roles of probation officers
“super probation” 10 years – high risk offenders.
Intensive probation- see probation officer more frequently. Many times a week. Offenders are subjective to drug tests, analysis with no idea they are coming.
A bigger version of the last slide on probation with answers.

5. What happens to a probationer who, “without reasonable excuse, fails or refuses to comply” with a condition??
Charged with ???
Charged with breach of probation
Hybrid offence
Indictable – 2years imprisonment
Summary conviction – 18 months imprisonment

6. Other sentencing options
Restitution - repaying. goes to the victim. Repayment of money, returning a stolen good, or repaying it either by helping victim.
Community service- fulfilling options at eg hockey arena, or recycling program within the city

7. THE FINE Must pay w/i specified amount of time
Statutory maximums outlined in CC
Summary offence:
Max. $2000 ($ for corporation)
Young offender:
Max. $1000
Indictable offence:
Max. no upper limit
Mandatory minimum 1st conviction DUI:
$300
Watched a youtube video- Scared straight 1978

8. ARE FINES FAIR?? Judge may have little knowledge of ability to pay
Ability to pay may be included in pre-sentence report
1 in 5 admissions to jail result of inability to pay fine
Affects minority groups/aboriginals the most
Fine option program (2 years) when individual is performing community program and eventually your fine will be squared off
Finland’s approach : reflective of the individuals income. Different fines.

9. OTHER SENTENCING OPTIONS?
Restitution
Community service

10. SCARED STRAIGHT PROGRAMS: EFFECTIVE?

11. WHAT IS A CONDITIONAL SENTENCE?
Created by Bill C-41 – 1996
Sentence served in the community
Imposed where:
Court imposes sentence of less than 2 years imprisonment
Criminal code does not set a minimum prison term
Sentence would not endager the safety of the community and would be consistent with the fundamental principles of sentencing
Mandatory and optional
Average length: 8 months

12. THE CONDITIONAL SENTENCE: EFFECTIVE OR NOT?
Steady increase in use
Popular among judges and controversial amongst society
What are the advantages and disadvantages of conditional sentencing for:
The criminal justice system
The offender
The victim
The criminal justice system
1. Advantages
Saves money
Allows for easier rehabilitation
Simply having less people in jail
2. Disadvantages
Community losing faith in the justice system
Minimize crime
Sends the message that certain crimes are not taken seriously
OFFENDER
a. More liberty. Not in prison
b. Not isolated. Contributing to the society
c. Closer to resources, friends, family
a. Limitation to what you can do
b. Challenging to individual cus he/she should break the law unless he would serve the remaining sentence in jail
c. Individual becoming a victim of people physically hurting them or verbally
VICTIM
Satisfied with the decision cus the person has a record
Payback and contributing to the society
If you know the person you wouldn’t want him to go to jail so it is a happy medium
(I don’t know if those last 2 are advantages or disadvantages)
Help facilitate reintegration
Re-victimization

13. HMMM. . .
How should we treat those who commit crimes as a result of a drug problem??
More lenient? More harsh? The same??

14. SPECIALIZED COURTS: DRUG TREATMENT COURTS
Main goal is to eliminate drug use and related criminal activities
Based on idea that CJ can be therapeutic rather than punitive
Offenders serve sentence in community under the supervision of the courts
Introduced in the US?
First DTC in Canada?

15. ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS MUST:
Successful completion:
Unsuccessful completion:

16. YOU BE THE JUDGE

17. WHEN DECIDING ON A SENTENCE. . .
Keep in mind the purposes, objectives and goals of sentencing
Remember that there are various sentencing options and a split sentence is an option
Mitigating and aggravating factors should be taken into consideration