Prosecution
In all Canadian provinces and territories, criminal prosecutions are brought in the name of the "Queen in Right of Canada".
A person may be prosecuted criminally for any offences found in the Criminal Code or any other federal statute containing criminal offences.
There are three types of offences. The most minor offences are summary conviction offences. They are defined as "summary" within the Act and, unless otherwise stated, are punishable by a fine of no more than $5,000 and/or 6 months in jail. Examples of offences which are always summary offences include trespassing at night (section 177), causing a disturbance (s.175) and taking a motor vehicle without the owner's consent (s.335).
The most serious are the indictable offences. Examples of offences which are always indictable include murder (s.235), robbery (s.344) and break and enter of a dwelling-house (s.348(1)(a)). The available penalties are greater for indictable offences than for summary offences.
Most offences defined by the Criminal Code are hybrid offences, which allow the prosecution to elect whether to prosecute the offence as a summary or an indictable offence. Until the Crown elects the offence is treated as indictable.
In most cases where the offence is an indictable offence (or a hybrid offence where the Crown chooses to prosecute the offence as an indictable offence), the accused person can elect whether to be tried by a provincial court judge, by a judge of the higher court of the province without a jury or by a judge of the higher court with a jury. In cases described by section 553 of the Criminal Code, the accused person does not have an election and must be tried by a judge of the provincial court without a jury. As per sections 471 and 472 of the Criminal Code, if the offence is listed in section 469, then the accused person does not have an election, and must be tried by a judge of the higher court with a jury (unless both the accused person and the prosecutor consent to a trial by a judge of the higher court without a jury).
Read more about this topic: Criminal Law Of Canada
Famous quotes containing the word prosecution:
“The prosecution of [Warren] Hastings, though he should escape at last, must have good effect. It will alarm the servants of the Company in India, that they may not always plunder with impunity, but that there may be a retrospect; and it will show them that even bribes of diamonds to the Crown may not secure them from prosecution.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)