1. Unit 3 –The Criminal Code and Violent Crimes. Mr. Andrez
CLN4U - Law
Unit 3 –The Criminal Code and Violent Crimes.
Mr. Andrez

2. What is the Criminal Code of Canada?
Federal Statute that reflects the social values of Canadians which is amended (changed) to reflect society’s changing values.
internet distribution of child pornography
removal of criminal record for personal possession of Marijuana.

3. What is the Criminal Code of Canada?
Criminal Code is the main body of criminal law and identified hundreds of acts that are considered criminal.
Offences listed in the Code are worded precisely so that citizens are not wrongfully arrested on a criminal charge.
Elements required by the Crown must be worded precisely so that they can obtain a proper conviction.

4. History Canada’s criminal code is rooted in common law of England
Up to the 18th Century, England still did not have a Criminal Code.
English law was a confusing mix of case law, archaic local offenses, and harsh punishments
A written codified Criminal Code was seen to be the solution.

5. Criminal Code 1892– Canada receives first Criminal Code
Sir John A. MacDonald believed in a unified system for the whole country
1st Criminal Code was very unclear and contained many overly harsh punishments
Eg. Whipping
“Where whipping may be awarded for any offense…the number of strokes shall be specified at sentencing”

6. Criminal Code Today
Current criminal code the result of numerous amendments to accommodate changing of times
Abortion was a crime until 1988
Attempting to commit suicide was once a crime
At one point in time, incest was not a crime

7. Functions of the Criminal Code
Preventing harm to people and property
Injury, death, theft or damage to property
Preventing action that challenges gov’t authority and institutions
Treason, Riots or Insurrection

8. Functions of the Criminal Code
Discouraging personal revenge
Citizens cannot take the law into their own hands
In order to effectively discourage vigilantism, citizens must be confident in the justice system in addition to fearing the penalties

9. Discussion Is it ever necessary to take the law into your own hands?
What does it say about our society?

10. Functions of the Criminal Code
Preventing harm to oneself
Legal paternalism: when laws are enacted to promote the good of citizens by overruling their own judgment about what is good for them.
Essentially, gov’t acts as “father figure” to a nation of children
Ex: drugs, prostitution, suicide
Legal Paternalism can be defined as the governmentt interfering with a person's freedom for his or her own good.
It justifies state coercion to protect individuals from themsleves or self inflicted harm ...
This can be seen by laws restricting drug possession, gambling, prostitution and helmet laws

11. Discussion Legal paternalism Can a crime occur if there is no victim?
Pros/cons?
Can a crime occur if there is no victim?
Consensual crimes
Prostitution, possession of obscene material, drugs
Individuals who commit these crimes generally know what they’re getting into, and only potentially harming themselves, so are they victimless crimes?

12. Functions of the Criminal Code
Expressing and enforcing morality
Is morality subjective or objective?
“Cannibalism is moral in a cannibal country.” – Samuel Butler
Law must strike balance between reflecting the moral views of the majority while protecting differing opinions of minorities (to a degree)

13. Crime in Canada

14. Violent Crime in Canada

15. Violent Crime In Canada (2010)
Violent Crime Rates (2010)

16. Violent Crimes Harm to the human body.
Historically a part of criminal law (Code of Hammurabi)
About 13% of all criminal code offences are of a violent nature.
Including:
Murder
Assault
Sexual offences
Abduction
Robbery

17. Intentional killing of another person-
Intentional killing of another person- although can be charged without intent
Murder
First degree
This is planned &deliberate (considered consequences)
Victim is in law enforcement
Murder is committed while committing another crime i.e. Robbery
Min Penalty … Life with no parole for 25 years
Second degree (intentional murder yet does not fit into any of the above categories
The deliberate murder of a human . Not Planned
Min Penalty … Life with no parole for 10 years

18. Homicide in Canada

19. Homicide, police-reported rate, by province and territory, 2010

20. Manslaughter
Causing death of a human, directly or indirectly, by means of an unlawful reckless or negligent act. The act was not deliberate or planned
Example: Speeding down a road, crash into a little old lady and kill her.
The mens rea - a reasonable person would recognize that the unlawful act could physically harm or kill the victim.
4 years to Life sentence

21. Mitigating Circumstances: From Murder to Manslaughter
When someone charged with murder is convicted of manslaughter the courts will consider
Provocation: In the heart of passion (caused by provocation)
Provoked by a wrongful act / insult,
Must be something that would cause an ordinary person to lose self-control (excepting drug / alcohol)
Intoxication: (affects the person’s ability to predict the consequences of their actions
Crown must prove both the killing and the necessary intent if the accused uses the intoxication defence

22. Manslaughter continued
The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind
Voluntary Manslaughter
occurs when the defendant kills with malice (intention to kill or cause serious harm), but there are mitigating circumstances which reduce culpability
or when the defendant kills only with an intent to cause serious bodily harm
For example, Dan comes home to find his wife in bed with Victor. In the heat of the moment, Dan picks up a golf club from next to the bed and strikes Victor in the head, killing him instantly.

23. Manslaughter continued
Involuntary Manslaughter
is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice (intent). It is distinguished from voluntary manslaughter by the absence of intention.
constructive manslaughter
It occurs when someone kills, without intent, in the course of committing an unlawful act
criminally negligent manslaughter
an omission to act when there is a duty to do so which leads to a death
An example is where a doctor fails to notice a patient's oxygen supply has disconnected and the patient dies (R v Adomako)

24. Assault continued 3 Levels of Assault Level 3 - Aggravated Assault
Level 2 – Assault Causing Bodily Harm
Level 1 - Assault

25. Assault – Level #1
Defined as "applying” intentional force to another person directly or indirectly with out consent.
Key to assault → Intent. If the action is the result of carelessness or reflex, rather than intent → no assault
A threat can be an assault if there is an ability to carry it out at the time it is made
Attempting or threatening, by an act or gesture, to apply force
Approaching or blocking the way of another person, while openly carrying a weapon or an imitation of a weapon

26. Assault Level #2 – Causing bodily harm
When someone, while committing assault, carries, uses, or threatens to use a weapon or imitation of a weapon
Causes ‘bodily harm’
Anything that interferes with the victim’s health or comfort in more than a momentary, insignificant way

27. Assault Level #3 – Aggravated Assault
Most severe form of assault
When a person maims, disfigures, or endangers the life of the victim
Mens rea – only to commit bodily harm
Defense of consent may not be accepted in some circumstances of this level of assault

28. Serious assault (levels 2 and 3), police-reported rate, 1983 to 2009

29. Sexual Assault
Sexual Assault laws rewritten in the 1980s. Before it was simply known as “rape” which implied forced non-consensual sexual intercourse.
Three levels - similar to the 3 levels of assault.
Important considerations when distinguishing sexual assault
Conduct must have occurred in a sexual context
The body part touched
The nature of the contact
Situation in with the assault took place
Actus reus of sexual assault is the sexual touching to which the victim does not consent
The mens rea of sexual assault can rest in knowledge that the victim gave no consent; or willful blindness (perpetrator avoids asking the victim if consent is being given).

30. Other Sexual Offenses
Law protects young people from being pressured into sexual relationships with older people
Forbidden to touch for sexual purposes, a part of the body of a person under 14
Consent irrelevant – unless the accused is less than 3 years older than the victim
Forbidden to touch for sexual purposes…. If you are in a position of authority, the body of a person under 18, or the person is in a relationship of trust or dependency with the accused
Not knowing the age of the victim is NOT a valid defense.

31. Other Sexual Offenses continued
General offenses
Commit bestiality
Commit indecent acts in public places
Commit incest
In the home of a person under 18, participate in sexual immorality thereby endangering the morals of the child or rendering the home as an unfit place for a child to be in
Exploit sexually a person with a mental or physical disability

32. Robbery Theft involving violence Threat of violence Assault
Use of offensive weapons
Imitation of weapon is accepted by the courts as threat of violence
Masking or colouring one’s face with the intent to commit an indictable offense
Crown bases its case on the threat of violence
Must prove that the victim felt threatened
Reasonable and probable grounds for the fear
Max = life

33. Robbery, police-reported rate, by province and territory, 2010

34. Robbery, police-reported rate, Canada, 1979 to 2009