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Prime Minister Stephen Harper Announces UPCOMING Legislation to Keep CANADA’S Most heinous Criminals Behind Bars FOR LIFE

Posted in Canada

Published on March 04, 2015 with No Comments

Introduction

 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the Government’s intent to introduce legislation to keep Canadian families and their communities safe by ensuring that the most heinous criminals will be sentenced to life behind bars without possibility of parole. The Prime Minister was joined by Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and Roxanne James, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

 

Canadians expect their Government to protect them from the worst type of criminal, those who truly deserve to be called a menace to society. Individuals who commit the most heinous crimes, such as: those who plot kidnapping or sexual assault that results in murder; those with such contempt for law and order that they kill the police and correctional officers who are charged with protecting our streets; those who despise our values and way of life that carry out deadly acts of terrorism; and those who commit crimes of a particularly brutal nature.

 

That is why our Government will introduce legislation to amend the Criminal Code to ensure that Canada’s most heinous criminals – those whose actions mean we cannot risk permitting them on the streets – receive a life sentence with no chance for parole.

 

This legislation will follow through on the 2013 Speech from the Throne commitment to ensure that a life sentence means a sentence for life, building on the Government’s ongoing commitment to keep Canada’s streets and communities safe by holding violent offenders accountable and ensuring that the rights of victims are placed over the rights of criminals.

 

Quick Facts

 

  • This legislation will build on the Government’s tough-on-crime measures to keep our streets and communities safe by ensuring that criminals who are convicted of the most serious murders or those who are convicted of high treason will be imprisoned for the rest of their natural lives with no access to parole. This will include a mandatory sentence of life without parole for first degree murders involving:
    • sexual assault;
    • kidnapping or forcible confinement;
    • terrorism;
    • the killing of police officers or corrections officers; or,
    • any first degree murders that are found to be of a particularly brutal nature.
  • The Prime Minister also recently announced the Government’s intention to introduce legislation that would end the practice of making early release available for repeat violent offenders.

 

Quote

 

“Our Government believes in standing up for victims of crime and their families, putting their rights and interests ahead of those of criminals, and that a prison sentence should mean what it says. To this end, we are working to ensure that the Canadian justice system no longer allows the worst criminals to pose a risk to you, your children, and our communities. I am proud to announce that next week our Government will introduce legislation to ensure that the most heinous criminals who commit the most horrific crimes face serious criminal penalties, and that a life sentence in Canada will mean exactly that: a sentence for life.” – Prime Minister Stephen Harper

 

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Backgrounder

 

Proposed Legislation to Ensure Canada’s Most heinous Criminals are Subject to a Mandatory Life Sentence Without Parole

 

Our Government is committed to keeping our streets and communities safe for Canadians and their families. To this end, on March 4, 2015, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the Government’s intention to introduce legislation which would amend Canada’s Criminal Code and the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to ensure that the most heinous criminals would be subject to a mandatory life sentence without parole.

 

The most serious offence in the Criminal Code is murder. First degree murder – murder that is planned and deliberate – carries a mandatory penalty of life imprisonment with an ineligibility to apply for parole for 25 years. Murders that are not planned and deliberate carry the same penalty where they are committed in certain circumstances including where they involve the killing of a police officer or sexual assault.

 

Our Government has already taken concrete measures to strengthen penalties for murder including eliminating the faint hope clause, which allowed a murderer to apply for parole after 15 years, and enabling consecutive periods of parole ineligibility for multiple murderers.
The forthcoming legislative package will build on these measures by ensuring that offenders who are convicted of the most heinous murders or those who are convicted of high treason will be imprisoned for the rest of their natural lives with no access to parole. This will include murders involving:

 

  • sexual assault;
  • kidnapping or forcible confinement;
  • terrorism;
  • the killing of police officers or corrections officers; or,
  • any first degree murders that are found to be of a particularly brutal nature.

 

In addition to the mandatory sentences discussed above, courts will have the discretion to impose life sentences without parole in any other first degree murder case or in circumstances where an offender previously convicted of murder or of an international killing under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act commits another murder.

 

To address legitimate constitutional concerns, this legislation will permit a criminal serving life without parole to apply to the Minister of Public Safety for exceptional release after serving no less than 35 years. Decisions on petitions of this kind will rest with the federal Cabinet and will ensure that the families of victims are able to provide input on any such decisions.

 

The proposed legislation on life sentences without parole would align Canada’s criminal justice approach with likeminded countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States, and Australia.

 

These proposed measures build on the Prime Minister’s recent announcement of the Government’s intent to introduce legislation that would end the practice of making early release available for repeat violent offenders.

 

The proposed legislation is part of Canada’s Plan for Safe Streets and Communities, which focuses on holding violent offenders accountable, enhancing the rights of victims, and increasing the efficiency of our justice system.

 

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