Judges cannot undercut mandatory minimum sentences by showing leniency to accused people who lived under virtual house arrest awaiting their trials, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled 3-2 yesterday.It's way past time to stop the "revolving door" system of justice that releases predators back into the community before the victims have a chance to catch their breath. Court of Appeal... I salute you.
In an important test case presided over by a special five-judge panel, the majority said that reducing sentences by taking bail conditions into account would flout the will of Parliament.
"Put bluntly, bail is not jail," Mr. Justice James MacPherson wrote on behalf of Madam Justice Eleanore Cronk and Madam Justice Eileen Gillese.Onwards and upwards, my friends.
"Parliament has the clear jurisdiction to establish minimum sentences," the majority agreed. "Judges may not like such sentences because they are perceived as harsh or because they reduce judicial discretion in the sentencing process. However, that is the effect of mandatory minimum sentences which, by definition, remove much of the discretion that sentencing judges otherwise possess."
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