What Happens If You Are Found Guilty of a Crime in BC?

The courts in Canada have to do something about persons who have offended. What the courts have to do is set out in the Criminal Code of Canada. But that comes down to having to do two things. The first is they have stop you from doing what you have done. And second, if the court cannot stop you from doing what you have done they have to make sure you do not do it again for some time. The court can change or stop you in many ways. Those ways are a warning to change your ways by saying “don’t do it again” by stopping you by sending you to jail for any number of years.  How the court should pick out what to do is easy to say but not easy to do.

The courts have to do those things so that respect for the law is increased. The courts also have to do things that make for a just and safe society. There are many things the courts have to look at to promote that just society and respect for the law. The first thing that a court has to look at is what was the offence and the second is how much did you have to do with the offence.

The things that a court would look at to find out what was the offence the court would look to see if there was victim  due to hate of race, colour or religion or gender. The court would also look to see if a victim was a spouse. The court would look to see if a victim was a young person. The court would look to see if a gang was involved and if the offence was done by a terrorist.

Once the court has looked to see who was the victim and who was it that did it, the court then would look to see what happened to others who had done the same kind of offence. When the court is dealing with more than one offence at the same time the court would look to see that the total result would not be harsh. The court would also look to see what can be done to promote a safe and just society without having to put an offender in jail. And finally, the court would think about all the other steps that can be taken to promote a safe and just society before thinking about putting the offender in jail.

Once all those things have been thought about by the court the court has to think about how to go about promoting a safe and just society in your case. The guides are the same for all cases, but the facts are different in every case. So the court has to go about fitting the guides to the facts of your case. There also some ways of doing that. To start the court will look to see if you can be made to change your ways. If that looks good there are several ways that the court can make you change your ways. The court can order that you live free but have to do some jobs for all of us. The court can order that you can live free and do some jobs and get some advice from experts on how to change your ways. The court can order that you live free, do some jobs, get some advice and stop drinking or doing drugs. Or the court can order that you do some jobs, get some advice, stop drinking or doing drugs and live free for some time but not all the time. Or the court can order any of those, some of those or all of those.

The court thinks about a number of things to see what would work best to make you change your ways. The things the court looks at are:

    (a)    What will make you know what you did was wrong?
    (b)    What will stop you from doing it again?
    (c)    What will stop others from doing what you did?
    (d)    Is it safe for others to let you live free?
    (e)    What are the chances that you will change your ways?
    (f)    Can you make it up to the victims?
    (g)    Will you and can you learn from the harm to victims and the rest of         society?

The aim of all this is to stop you from doing it again. The way that aim is done is by forcing you to change your ways. The other way is to put you in place where you cannot do it again. The way that the court chooses depends on who you have been, who you are, and what you can become. So the court will listen to your life’s story. If from your life’ story it is clear that you have not offended much before, if at all, you will be given a chance to show that you can change your ways. This always means that you will live free, with or without things you have to do or stop doing. If your life’s story shows that you have offended a lot, the court will think you are not going to change your ways this time either. If you are not going to change your ways, the only thing to do is to put you in a place where your action cannot harm anyone and cannot harm society.

From what has been said you will see that before there is an answer to the question, “Am I going To Jail?” there are a lot of reasons for thinking that may not happen. There is the chance that some of what the police know will not be shown to the court. There is the chance that some of what the police say will not be believed by the court. There is a chance that what you say will be believed by the court. If after all that the court still finds you guilty the court has to be shown that you cannot or will not change your ways and only you being in jail will stop you.

Most persons like to think that if they make a mistake or adopt a lifestyle that if they need to do so they can make changes.  Many persons before the courts who promise to change their life style do so after the first time in court. Many others take many times in court before they learn to make life style changes. Others never learn to make those changes. But because many persons do learn to make those lifestyle changes the courts put persons in jail because they have no other choice. If you are a person that can and will make changes to your lifestyle there is every likelihood that you will not go to jail.