Criminal Law Police procedures Levels of police in Canada Policing is the most expensive in Canada's justice system Costs the government $10 billion annually There are 3 levels of police in Canada: Federal, provincial, municipal (Aboriginal police comes under municipal) Federal The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is the federal police Originally known as the North-West Mounted Police Formed in 1873 The RCMP is also the only provincial police force in all provinces and territories expect for Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador In the territories, the RCMP is the only police force that is there In remote areas, they also serve as the municipal police force Th services which they provide include: Investigation and protective services for the federal government The RCMP covers: Border integrity: Criminal Law 1 Customs and excise programs Imported products Duties and taxes which are applied on goods of domestice manufacture, liquor and tobacco Enforces laws which are under the controlled drugs and substances Act International Policing The cooperation between Canadian and foregin law enforcement Helps to aid foregin enforcement to fight against global criminal activity Financial Crime Focuses on commercial fraud, technological crime, securites fraud and organized crime Provincial Have jurisdiction over rural areas and in unincorporated regions around cities Only provinces with a provincial police force are only in Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador The OPP ( Ontario Provincial Police) is the largest provincial police forces The OPP is responsible for: Policing municipalities which are not required to maintain their own police force bylaw Providing the municipal police with assistance when requested Traffice control on all 400-series and major highways Including sections of the major/400-series of highways which are under the jurisdiction of municipal forces Provide investigation services to the coroners office and other provincial ministries Carrying out other assigned duties eg. Provincial firearms registry Municipal Criminal Law 2 Police force which regulates cities, towns They’re responisible for: Preserving peace Preventing crimes Laying charges & participating in prosecutions Excuting warrants Enforcing municipal by-laws Divided into 3 sections to serve the community 1. Gang crime 2. Robbery squad 3. Homicide squad Aboriginal Police Administered by the department of the Solicitor general Provides partnerships among the federal government, provicial governments & aboriginal peoples to create police services which are fit for them Each first nations community can make an agreement with the federal/provincial governments to make a stand alone aboriginial police force Arrest and Detention Police must conduct their investigation according to the procedures established If the investigation is not done according to the procedures, the court may view the evidence as invaild, therefore, dismissing it Questioning the Accused During the questioning period, police officers are required to ask the accuser questions However, under Section 7 of the Charter, the accuser cannot be forced to answer the questions; having the choice to answer the question Criminal Law 3 The police are required to inform the arreseted of the reason behind their arrest and their right to counsel as underlined in the Charter Once the arrested has been imformed, anything and everything which they said can be used against them in court Interrogation Techniques During interrogation, the main goal of police officers is to find out the truth Police officers do it in 4 stages: 1. Ask about the entire incident 2. Ask about events prior/before the offence took place 3. Ask about details of the actual offence 4. Ask about the events followed after the offence took place Arrest Someone who is place underarrest is deprived of his/her liberty by legal authority The police officer who is doing the arrest must follow four steps in order for the arrest made to be demeaned lawful 1. The police officer must identify theirselve as a police officer prior to making the arrest 2. Inform the accused that they are under arrest 3. Show an arrest warrant, if one is obtained, and inform the accused of the charge that they are being arrest for 4. Touch the accused to indicate that they are in legal custody a. Once under custody, the officer MUST inform the person their right to a legal counsel Detention Policw must inform the detained person of the reason for the detention and their right to counsel Eg. asking someone to accompany the police to the police station for questioning Criminal Law 4 If person is refused to be accompanyed while being taken to the police station, they will be placed under arrest and taken to the police station against their will Reasonable grounds On the information/evidence which is available, a reasonable person would conclude that the suspect has indeed committed a criminal offence If someone is arrested in an improper manner, the person who was arrested can sue the police for unlawful arrest Appearance Notice A legal document issued to those who commit a serious offence that compels that the accused person WILL APPEAR IN COURT The accused MUST sign the appearance notice and be given a copy If the accused does not attend court on the given date, the police may ask the judge to issues a brench warrant Brench warrant: arrest warrant issued by the judge when the accused fails to appear in court The accused will be arrested for the original offence AND with another offence of failure to appear Arrest with warrant Summons Legal document which is issued for an indictable offence which orders the accused person to appear in court Informs that the accused of the charges against them and the date of when to appear The summon is given when the police believe that the accused will show up to court voluntarily Arrest Warrant The police can obtain an arrest warrant when they believe they have reasonable grounds that someone accused of an indictable offence will not appear in court willingly Criminal Law 5 Involves with providing some “sworn” information A statement given under oath informing the court about the details of the offence Directly written by the court ordering the police to arrest the suspect Includes the name of the accused, the offence that the person is charged with, and the reason behind the warrant Mentioned in Section 495 of the Criminal code Citizen’s Arrest Under Section 494(1) of the Criminal Code, any person may arrest a person who they find is committing an indictable offence May arrest someone, on reasonable grounds, believe has committed a criminal offence Searches Investigation Searching a person An arrested person can be LEGALLY searched by police without a warrant, if only the search: Follows a lawful arrest Connected to a lawful arrest Carried out in a reasonable manner In most cases, the accused DOES NOT have to supply a breath, blood, urine samples, unless the warrant says so Expections: Suspicion of impaired driving Person would like to consult with counsel even if there was a warrant issued Some crimes where DNA profiling is needed A “pat-down” search is a MUST after an arrest More thorough searches may be taken place at the station Criminal Law 6 Searching a place In order to search a place, the police officer must have a search warrant Gives police the permission to search a specific location Requires information regarding crime, items sought, reasonable grounds, to believe that these will be found at the location which will be searched Warrant must be displayed by officers prior to making the search Tele-warrant may also be issued IF time is limited Private home Search warrant to search a private home is required, UNLESS UNDER THESE TWO CONDITIONS 1. Immient injury or warrant 2. Destructions of evidence relating to an indictable offence Controlled drugs and substances act Police can search anywhere expect for a person residence for illgeal drugs MUST have a warrant to search a person residence for illgeal drugs Any person found on premises may be search if suspected to be carrying illegal drugs Provinical liquor laws Police can search a car for any illegal alcohol Search warrant is required to search a residence for illegal alcohol Police investigation Collecting Evidence Fingerprints At a crime scene, two types of fingerprints can be found: Visible fingerprints Criminal Law 7 Visible to the naked eye; able to see without any need of technology Formed when hands/fingers are covered in a substance (blood, grease,etc Latent fingerprints Invisible to the naked eye; need techonolgy/other techniques to be able to see the fingerprint Formed by the natural oils of the hands/fingers Gloves If gloves are found at the crime scene, the glove impression will have the fingerprints of the accused; can be used to identify a suspect simliarly to fingerprints The glove impression can help with individual characteristics of the gloves Shoe prints & tire tracks Shoe prints and/or tire tracks found on the crime secne can help with matching the suspect’s shoes and/or tires Impressions can help with determining the type of tires, the car type and make, and direction of which the car was travelling in Shoe prints can help with determining the possible age of the suspect, height and if the suspect was running or walking Body elements & DNA The transfer of any bodily fluids or other fluids present while the crime was being commited 1. Blood a. Most common found at the crime scene b. Blood is sent to labs for an analysis which can help with finding if the blood found on the crime scene is a match to the blood type of the suspect/victim 2. Hair, clothing fibres a. Easily can be transfered from the suspect to the victim b. Can be used to match any of those found on the suspects clothes, car or home Criminal Law 8 DNA testing Made up of the heredity material which is the building block of a person’s genetics Determines a person’s physical characteristics Height Weight Hair colour Forensic scientists can extract someone’s DNA just from a small sample A similar way to identify a person’s fingerprints Can be used to identify suspects who are related to the crime with physical evidence provided or to free those from suspicion Procedures for labelling evidence Chain of custody Witnessed written record of all people who had control over the items of evidence Must remain unbroken and also show: Who had contact with the evidence The dates and times that the evidence was handled The circumstances under which the evidence was handled Whats changed, (if there were any), were made to the evidence Evidence Any and all evidence collected at a crime scene is tagged and placed in an “evidence package” which is usually labelled with the following: A brief description of item Police case number Date when the evidence was collected Loaction of collection Criminal Law 9 Brand name of the item, (If any) Serial number/clothing ifo Name and badge number of the officer who collected the evidence Destination of item for analysis or storage Involvement in a crime Parties involved in a crime All crimes have other involved in them which play a certain role. If there are multiple people involved, the law divides the blame amongst various people. Parties to an offence Parties to an offence are those who mat not be directly involved in a crime but are partly responisble of why it happened. Those who are partly responsible assisted with the offender actually committing a crime without them knowing. Those include: Aiding Aiding is a criminal offence which involves helping the offender commit a crime The person who is aiding the offender does not need to be present at the crime when it was being committed Eg: A shop manager, Jessica, gives one of her employees, Stacey, the keys of the shop while she was away. Stacey breaks into the shop and steals merchandise. Abiding Abiding is a criminal offence that involves with encouraging the offender to commit the act/crime The person who is assisting the offender with physical assistance Eg: Rob and Jeff get into a physical fight and Kirk is encourging Rob to keep hitting Jeff Counselling Criminal Law 10 Counselling is a crime which involves advising, recommending, or persuading another person to commit a criminal offence Eg: Vanessa persuades Jane to steal goods from the house where she babysits, telling her the best way to do it Accessory after the fact Accessory after the fact is when a person knowingly receives, comforts, or assists a offender with escaping from the police Eg: Jaq steals a bag of drugs from Sully’s house and Dunshane willingly helps Jaq escape the police Party to common intention Party to common intention is the shared responsibility among criminals for any additional offences that are committed in the course of the crime originally intended to commit Eg: 5 people break and enter into a home and one of them ends up deadly injuring one of those who were in the house, all 5 of them will be charged with assault Incomplete crimes An action does not always have to be done for a crime to occur. Some expections are: Attempt Attempt is the intention to commit a crime, even though the crime has not be completed Does not include the Actus Reas element However, a guilty act begins when the offender turns it into a attempted action Eg: Trying to set off a bomb, but it does not explode Conspiracy Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to carry out an illegal act, eve if the crime does not occur Eg: A couple of people decide to purchase drugs froms a undercover police officer Criminal Law 11 Youth Crime Youth Criminal Justice Act 2003 Deals with youth between the ages of 12-17 Children under 12 are too young to be charged The purpose of this Act is so that give the youth rehabliation instead of imprisoning them and giving them a punishment Youth should be taught to aviod a life of committing crimes so they do not committ future offences For violent offences, youth can recieve up to 2 years for most offences, up to 10 years for 1st degree murder For very serious cases, youth can be charged as an adult Comparsion of the YCJ and the YOA The YOA only dealt with youth between 12-17 It gave youth the sentencing as adults The YCJ changed that by giving youth a way to learn from their actions rather to be punished Rights of youth offenders for question, detention and arrest Question During the question period, youth offenders are allowed to have a parent to accompany them during the questioning During detention sentencing, youth often get up to 2 years for most offences, up to 10 years for 1st degree murder In very very serious cases, youth can be charged as adults Publication of Identity & Criminal Records Criminal Law 12 Publication of Identity The identity of a youth can only be publicized if the youth is on the run Once they youth is found, all news outlets must remove the identity of the youth Criminal Records Criminal records get dissloved after the youth turns 18 Elements of a crime Criminal offences: Actus Reus + Mens Rea Regulatory offences: Actus Reus Actus Reus + Mens Rea = Criminal Equation Actus Reus The guilty act which involves: Voluntarily doing something wrong Failing to do something of which you have legal duty of Mens Rea Intent of committing the crime The guilty mind Wilful Blindness Closing ones mind to the actions committed and the consequences coming next Criminal Negligence Not realizing that thier actions who have not been committed by any reasonable person General Intent vs. Specific Intent Criminal Law 13 General Intent Specific Intent - Someone who wrongfully commits an act for their own sake - No motive - Easier to prove - Someone who wrongly fully commits an act for the sake of committing another crime - Committing a crime to also commit another one while committing the first one - Harder to prove - Manslaughter - Murder 1 & 2 Strict Liability vs. Absolute Liability Strict Liability Absolute Liability - Offences can be of two categories - The accused took every reasonable precaution not to commit the crime - The accused may have acknowledged that the offence took place but offered defence - In two categories - If the crown finds that the accused was responsible for the offence - Usual penalty is a fine Criminal Offences Offences against the person Homicide Causing the death of a human being either directly or indirectly There are two types of homicide 1. Culpable A killing where the accused can be held responsible Murder, Infanticide 2. Inculpable A killing where a person cannot be held legally responsible caused by an accident Acting under military orders Murder (Culpable) Criminal Law 14 Intentional killing of another human There are two types of murders and both are life imprisonment 1. First degree murder Planned Contracted killing Cause the death of a peace officer Committed during another serious offence 2. Second degree murder Any murders which DO NOT fit into the one of the four situations of first degree murder Infanticide Killing of a newborn child by the biological mother Consider infanticide under 3 of these circumstances 1. Accused must be the natural (biological) mother of the child 2. Child was under 12 months of age 3. The accused must have been suffering from a mental illness from not being able to recover from giving birth Penalty is between 5-10 years if all 3 points are proven If not, then life imprisonment Criminal Law 15
