Dangerous and Long-Term Offenders

• Author: Mihael Cole
• Pages: 201-228

201

Dangerous

andLong-Term

Oenders

Mihael Cole

6

I. General Purpose: Protection of the Public...................... 

II. Serious Personal Injury Oence .............................. 

III. Long-Term Oender Eligible Oences ......................... 

IV. Production Orders ........................................ 

V. Assessment Applications: Section . ....................... 

VI. Determining Dangerousness ................................ 

VII. Long-Term Oender Criteria................................. 

VIII. Manageability of the Oender in the Community ................ 

IX. Other Considerations ...................................... 

X. Breaches of Long-Term Supervision Orders .................... 

Copyright © 2024 Emond Montgomery Publications. All Rights Reserved.

202 Sentencing: Principles and Practice

The dangerous oender and long-term oender provisions are governed by part

XXIV of the Criminal Code.1 This part “diers in several ways from the usual sen-

tencing regime found in part XXIII of the Code.”2

Under this part,3 oenders may be sentenced:

1. as dangerous oenders with an indeterminate sentence;

2. as dangerous oenders with a determinate sentence;

3. as long-term oenders with a determinate sentence; or

4. without any designation and in the normal course, guided by section 718.

The determination as to whether the Crown pursues a dangerous oender or

long-term oender designation is predicated on a number of factors discussed below,

including the gathering of historic records from various institutions, a court-ordered

psychiatric assessment, and the consent of the attorney general of the province.

I. General Purpose: Protection of the Public

Historically, the dangerous and long-term oender provisions of the Criminal Code

have been reserved for a “very small group of oenders whose personal characteris-

tics and particular circumstances” favour preventive incarceration.4

However, with the amendments to this part in 2008, Parliament clearly “intended

to capture a broader group of oenders” than under previous regimes.5

Nonetheless, the “overriding purpose” of the dangerous offender and long-

term oender regimes remains the same: protection of the public.6 This legislation

is designed as a preventive sanction for those oenders who pose “a real danger of

future violence.”7

Indeed, the “overriding aim” of an indeterminate sentence is not the punishment

of the oender but the prevention of future violence. The oender faces incarceration

only for the period that they pose a serious risk to the safety of the public.8

1 I wish to acknowledge the benefit I received from having been provided a copy of an educa-

tion paper authored by Justice W Gorman (Nfld)—National Judicial Institute: Judges and

Jails: The Realities of Incarceration (Kingston, 2016); Dangerous and Long-Term Oender

Applications.

2 R v Laporte (PLR), 2016 MBCA 36 at para 216.

3 In 2008, significant amendments were made to this section of the Criminal Code. Oences

committed prior to these amendments may or may not be subject to the current or previous

regime depending on the positions of the parties as it relates to s 11(i) of the Charter.

4 R v Lyons, [1987] 2 SCR 309, 1987 CanLII 25 at para 44; R v Szostak, 2014 ONCA 15 at para 33.

5 R v Boutilier, 2017 SCC 64 at para 104; Szostak, supra note 4 at para 54.

6 R v Little, 2007 ONCA 548 at para 70; R v DVB, 2010 ONCA 291 at para 58.

7 R v Sawyer, 2015 ONCA 602 at para 30.

8 R v Jones, [1994] 2 SCR 229, 1994 CanLII 85 at para 124.

Copyright © 2024 Emond Montgomery Publications. All Rights Reserved.