A recent Ontario’s Court of Appeal decision could change the circumstances in which a Court can authorize a conditional sentence for an accused, despite the verbatim content of the Criminal Code. Indeed, the Court in R v. Sharma invalidated provisions of the Criminal Code that make conditional sentencing unavailable for offenders who are guilty of the import, export, trafficking or production of drugs. With much consideration of the unique treatment of Aboriginal offenders in the Canadian penal system by Feldman J.A., who wrote the majority decision, R. v. Sharma provides for a very interesting read. Context On June 27, 2015, Ms. Sharma arrived at the Toronto Pearson International Airport after taking a trip to Surinam with a suitcase containing 1971.5 grams of cocaine. She had agreed to retrieve the drugs in exchange for $20,000 from her boyfriend to avoid homelessness for herself and for her daughter. She pleaded guilty to… Lire la suite
14
Oct2020
