Justice committee  It could be. Even on a second-degree murder conviction, the judge has the ability to impose life with eligibility for parole at the 25-year maximum. So in most cases I would agree with you, the parole ineligibility period is lessened, not necessarily by definition and certainly n

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  Yes.

Justice committee  All the time.

Justice committee  It's plea negotiations, not plea bargaining, number one. Number two, I don't think a crown would agree to drop a first-degree murder down to second-degree on the basis that it saves money. It is based on the strength of the crown's case and what would be supported in terms of a

Justice committee  I'll answer your first question. The second question I'll defer, since I'm not, quite frankly, aware of the systems in Europe. Much of sentencing and when people are released is based on public perceptions and public climate—quite frankly, the political climate. With respect, I

Justice committee  Thank you. The Criminal Lawyers' Association welcomes the opportunity to appear before this committee on the fundamentally important issues raised in Bill S-6. The Criminal Lawyers' Association is a non-profit organization that was founded on November 1, 1971. Our organization

Justice committee  He can't make the application until he is eligible. So the starting point is 15 years. He can't do it before we get everything ready; then off we go when it's time. I know I don't have much time, but there's a whole series of practical measures that you have to consider about t

Justice committee  I assume you mean the offender, not the lawyer, being the liar. The short answer is, realistically, no. There's so much paper that follows an offender's 15 years' worth of incarceration that, quite frankly, if he's a bad apple, he's not going to be able to fake being a good one.

Justice committee  No, but I'd just say the same statistics you quoted from mention that a total of 14 cases have been returned. Of those cases, two, I believe, were for a new violent offence, and there is no mention of it being murder. So I would say no, there are no cases where a new murder was c

Justice committee  Absolutely. At best, a successful judicial review application allows a person to apply before the National Parole Board at some earlier date than the 25 years of a first degree life sentence. It is solely within the discretion and decision-making ability of the National Parole Bo

Justice committee  I think Ms. Pate had quoted in her comments that anywhere between two to five years after—

Justice committee  I don't think it's particularly different for men. It would just be based.... Quite frankly, in my representations at these hearings, I can't think of any case where a person serving life would achieve day parole on his day parole date. It's such a gradual process that, if you wi

Justice committee  If that question is directed to me, as I stated in my opening comments, what notes or facts I have are as of April this year: that of the 991 lifers—almost 1,000—who were eligible, only 174 applied. Of those 174, 144 were reduced in court. As to whether all of those were at the f

Justice committee  What's interesting is that prior to going to life 25, when we had capital and non-capital murder distinctions—capital being a death sentence—the approximate average number of years before a non-capital murder offender was released was somewhere around 13 or 14 years. So with life