In Canadian law, a peace bond is an order from a criminal court that requires a person to keep the peace. A peace bond is a court order to keep the peace and be on good behavior for a period of time. This essentially means that the person must not be charged with a criminal offence
Peace bond is issued when the crown is strongly convinced that no guilt has happened. A person does not plead guilty when they enter into a peace bond. There is no finding of guilt made or conviction registered if a person agrees to a peace bond.
The bond is usually set for twelve months. If charges are withdrawn, the prosecution of those charges is finished and those same charges can never be brought back. It will be considered a dismissed case in the US legal system.
There is no equal order to the peace bond in the US system. If charges are withdrawn by a peace bond in Canada, since there is no conviction or admission of any guilt, they do Not Result in US inadmissibility under INA ยง 212 (a) (2); the issuance of a peace bond does not meet the definition for a conviction, in addition a judge does not make a judgment of guilt when a peace bond is issued. In these cases, after the twelve months peace bond, all the police records related to the withdrawn charge will be destroyed.
As a result a withdrawn charge with peace bond in Canadian legal system, is most equal to a dismissed charge in the US legal system.
Famous quotes containing the words peace and/or bond:
“The peace conference must not adjourn without the establishment of some ordered system of international government, backed by power enough to give authority to its decrees. ... Unless a league something like this results at our peace conference, we shall merely drop back into armed hostility and international anarchy. The war will have been fought in vain ...”
—Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)
“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
—Bible: New Testament, Ephesians 4:1-3.