C-325 – An Act to amend the Criminal Code and Corrections and Conditional Release Act (conditions of release and conditional sentences) – would block people convicted of certain crimes from serving their sentence in the community, and would require parole officers to report any breaches of parole.
Criminal Code
The first change to the Criminal Code makes it so failing to comply with parole conditions without reasonable excuse is now an offence punishable with up to two years of prison time.
Next up C-325 changes the conditions for community service as a punishment. Community service is only an option if the offender is sentenced to less than two years of jail, along with a few other conditions. The condition that’s changing is that they can’t be guilty of attempted murder, torture, or advocating genocide. C-325 broadens this, making it so you aren’t eligible for parole if the maximum sentence for the crime you’ve been convicted of is 14 years or life.
Community service would also no longer be an option if the crime has a maximum prison term of 10 years and resulted in bodily harm, involved the use of a weapon, or involved the import, export, or production of drugs.
Finally you cannot have been found guilty of prison breach, criminal harassment, sexual assault, kidnapping, profiting from trafficking, abduction of a person under the age of 14, motor vehicle theft, theft over $5,000, breaking and entering a place other than a home, being unlawfully in a home, or arson for fraud.
Corrections and Conditional Release Act
C-325 changes the Corrections and Conditional Release Act to make it so that any breaches of parole must be reported to the Parole Board of Canada, the Attorney General, and the local police force.
Progress
C-325 went up for its Second Reading and failed with 147 voting in favour of it and 181 voting against.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 0 | 154 | 2 |
| Conservative | 115 | 0 | 1 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 30 | 0 | 1 |
| NDP | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| Green | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Independent | 0 | 2 | 0 |
The Liberals don’t support C-325 as they don’t want to restrict a judge’s ability to choose an appropriate punishment for a crime. They mention that this would just put more people in prison, and that this is a step back towards strict minimum sentencing which was deemed unconstitutional.
The Bloc Quebecois feel that C-325 fills in some gaps that are being taken advantage of, especially by people accused of sex crimes.
The NDP agree that this will just put more people in prison and doesn’t improve the conditional release system in any way. They also point out that conditional release doesn’t mean a sentence is over, the offender is just allowed to serve the rest of their sentence in the community under supervision instead of in prison.