The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down a pair of Conservative government crime sentencing bills.
First, the court ruled mandatory minimum sentences of one year in prison for a drug offence violates the Charter.
President of the John Howard Society of Northern BC (based in Prince George) Wayne Hughes applauded the decision.
“I think that the justices across Canada were kind of rallying against these as well. At the end of the day the minimum sentences adds more cost to the legal system and is inherently unjust because it’s painting everyone with the same brush.”
He says the system hasn’t “lost its teeth” with today’s ruling, it has just put power back into the judge’s hands.
“The justices are intelligent enough and we put enough trust in them to be justices, that they ought to be able to make those decisions and not some MP in Ottawa arbitrarily making that decision for them.”
The second case saw the Supreme Court throw out laws which limited credit for time served in pretrial custody.
Usually, a person can get 1.5 days of credit for each day spent in pre-sentance custody, because of what are often harsh conditions and a lack of programs.
Under new legislation brought in by the Conservatives, a person denied bail because of a previous conviction is not eligible for the 1.5 day credit.
Hughes says that doesn’t make sense, and that pre-trial custody is a whole different beast that regular corrections, and that the system should reflect that.
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