The bill proposes three changes in definition. One is the “serious violent offence”. The specific offences that would constitute a serious violent offence are actually articulated in the bill. The next is an expanded definition of “violent offence”. The third is the “serious offence” definition, which has application in the pretrial detention provisions.
The definition that is being used for “serious offence” in this bill is the same as that being invoked in the Criminal Code, which is offences for which an adult could receive five years or more. That includes a great number of offences and excludes less serious offences such as theft under, administration of justice offences, and some mischief offences. Things like that would be less. There should be a chart in the back of the Criminal Code that indicates the range of sentences for various offences, and it would be those that are under five years.