 
CCLA ATTACKS MANDATORY MINIMUM JAIL SENTENCES Citing once again the case of Robert Latimer, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) lambasted the Harper government’s bill to increase the length of minimum jail penalties as well as the number of crimes that will carry such a sentence. Appearing before the parliamentary committee on the bill, CCLA General Counsel Alan Borovoy and then Public Safety Project Director Alexi Wood testified that “no case more effectively illustrates the injustice of mandatory minimum sentences than the present plight of Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer”. The CCLA representatives noted that, according to the trial judge, Latimer ended his 12-year-old daughter’s life out of “love and compassion” because of the pain she was suffering from a debilitating disease. After a jury found him guilty of second degree murder, the trial judge opted for leniency and sentenced him to one year in jail and one year under house arrest. But the appeal courts finally held that there was no alternative but to impose upon him the mandatory minimum penalty required by law: life in jail with no chance of parole for 10 years. Borovoy and Wood protested. In their view, “a compassionate father who breaks the law out of love should not receive the same penalty as a malevolent robber who breaks the law out of greed.” | CCLA In The Schools | Join Us | Feedback | Search | Other Interesting Sites | Home |
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