A conditional sentence is a non- custodial

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular ac ...

for

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

. It is one type of criminal sentencing used in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Description

Conditional refers to rules the offender must follow in order to remain out of

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

, which are similar to when one is on

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

. These are most often treatment for drug or alcohol abuse,

curfew A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...

s, and

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performe ...

. Offenders who breach their conditions or re-offend may complete their sentence in prison. To receive a conditional sentence, the sentencing

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

must be satisfied that the offender does not pose a danger to the community. This allows less serious offenders to remain in their communities or at

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. ...

. The largest percentage of conditional sentences are for

property crime Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, o ...

. By law, a conditional sentence must be less than two years in duration; they have an average length of eight months., and the offence that the offender was convicted of cannot be punishable by a minimum sentence of imprisonment. Conditional sentences were introduced in 1995 as a response to perceived over-

incarceration Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is " false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessar ...

, especially among

Indigenous peoples in Canada In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and '' Eskimo'' have fallen into disuse in Canada, and most consider th ...

Administration

Conditional sentences are administered by provincial probation and parole services. The accused must be supervised by a probation officer and regularly attend meetings.

Breach of a conditional sentence

An accused person may be arrested without warrant where a peace officer believes on reasonable grounds that the accused has failed to comply with a condition or by warrant. An accused arrested for an alleged breach will be detained in custody pending a hearing to determine whether a breach occurred. The accused may apply for bail pending the hearing. However, under subsection 515(6) the accused bears the onus. Upon the earliest of the accused being arrested for an alleged breach or upon the issuance of a warrant, the conditional sentence stops running. At a breach hearing the Crown bears the onus to prove a breach on a balance of probabilities. If the court finds that a breach occurred, the accused bears to onus to justify the continuation of the conditional sentence. The court may do one of four things: take no action, order that the accused serve a portion of the conditional sentence in custody, terminate the conditional sentence and order that the accused serve the remainder of the conditional sentence in custody or change a condition of the order.

Remission

A conditional sentence is a custodial sentence. However, the accused is ineligible for remission. Typically accused persons sentenced to custody are given a one-day reduction for every two days served, provided the accused is of good behaviour and follows the institutional rules (see sec. 6 of the Prisons and Reformatories Act). This results in the vast majority of accused persons serving two thirds of their sentence. Therefore, where the conditions of the conditional sentence resemble incarceration (e.g. a conditional requiring the accused person to reside in a secure psychiatric hospital), the conditional sentence may actually be more harsh than a carceral sentence (i.e. a two year conditional sentence which is effectively served in an institution is equivalent to a three year prison sentence since a person sentenced to three years would be eligible for mandatory release after two thirds of the sentence).

Controversy

Conditional sentences are controversial among some Canadians as being too

lenient Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...

. For example,

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization in the United States, Canada and Brazil that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and strive for stricter impaired drivin ...

have argued that they should not be available to persons convicted of

impaired driving Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

. Former

justice minister A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Vic Toews Victor Toews (; born September 10, 1952) is a Paraguayan-Canadian politician and jurist. Toews is a judge of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba. He represented Provencher in the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 until his resignation on ...

, then justice critic for the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Co ...

, has also criticized them, saying that Canada needs to "get the drug men and the gunmen off the streets and get rid of conditional sentences." In 2008,

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

noted that in Saskatchewan 39 per cent of criminals sentenced to house arrest were sent back to jail for breaching their conditions. In addition, thousands convicted of crimes of violence, including homicides and sexual assaults have been given conditional sentences. Proponents of conditional sentences, however, have noted that the courts must not give a conditional sentence if it believes the offender will endanger the community. Furthermore, only a minority of offenders breach their conditions or reoffend, and that conditional sentencing saves

taxpayers A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

over $50,000 per inmate each year.

References

{{reflist Sentencing (law)