Supreme Court upholds Harper-era mandatory minimum for child-sex crimes

Canada's highest court has ruled that a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for a specific child-sexual-abuse offence does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

Supreme Court upholds Harper-era mandatory minimum for child-sex crimes

Canada's highest court has ruled that a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for a specific child-sexual-abuse offence does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, overturning a lower-court decision that had struck down the provision.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the constitutionality of the mandatory minimum for the offence of sexual interference. The provision was introduced during Stephen Harper's Conservative government as part of a 2012 omnibus crime bill.

The case before the court involved a man convicted of sexually assaulting his six-year-old stepdaughter. A trial judge had initially imposed a sentence of 15 months, finding the five-year floor to be grossly disproportionate. The Ontario Court of Appeal later overturned that ruling, declaring the mandatory minimum unconstitutional.

Writing for the majority, Justice Malcolm Rowe found that while the sentence was lengthy, it was not so excessive as to violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms' protection against cruel and unusual treatment. The dissenting justices argued the opposite, maintaining that the mandatory minimum failed to account for the wide range of circumstances that can arise in such cases.

The ruling preserves one of the last remaining mandatory minimums introduced during the Harper government's tough-on-crime agenda, many of which have been struck down by courts in recent years.

Source: The Globe and Mail

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)