Reconciliation and victims.

• Author: Davison, Charles B.
• Position: Criminal law

For a criminal defence lawyer, one of the areas of change in the law over the last several years--a change which still takes some getting used to--is the increasing role of complainants (or victims) in our court system. Because the English and Canadian tradition has always held that committing a crime amounted first and foremost to an offence "against the Sovereigns peace", criminal prosecutions and punishment have usually been considered to be public undertakings. Even today, criminal prosecutions are formally brought in the name of "Regina" (Latin for "the Queen") against the accused, and prosecutors are referred to as "Crown counsel".

A convicted person was punished on the basis that he or she had offended against the laws and interests of the Crown--after all, the King or Queen could not easily rule if his or her subjects were unruly and constantly offending against one another. Many crimes were actually considered a form of treason and betrayal against the Sovereign, which often led to penalties which we would today properly agree were excessive and harsh in the extreme--killing a deer belonging to the King could lead to hanging, for example, and stealing a loaf of bread could lead to transportation from England to one of her colonies as punishment.

In the mid-1980s, however, Canadian criminal law began to undergo a series of changes which were intended to offer those persons directly affected by the commission of offences a greater chance to say something at the time of sentencing of a convicted accused. At first, this was only in the form of a written statement, but about ten years ago the Criminal Code was changed again to give victims the right to read their statements out loud in court where the convicted person, the sentencing judge, and the public at large could hear how they had been affected by the commission of the offence. Now, systems are in place to prepare people for the experience of testifying and to accommodate their personal needs while getting ready for and ultimately attending court. Victims support services exist to explain and provide the various forms of assistance and counselling that may be helpful to someone who has been injured, mentally or physically, by criminal conduct. Complainants are kept informed of court dates and developments by Crown prosecutors and their staff. Provisions now exist to permit victims to attend post-sentencing hearings such as proceedings before the National Parole Board when an...