| Historical Information |
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| This post is about a previous Session of Parliament. Any legislation here that did not receive Royal Assent has been terminated. |
C-424 – Addressing the Continuing Victimization of Homicide Victims’ Families Act – makes it harder for people convicted of homicide to get parole until the bodies of their victims are found.
This Act makes changes to the Criminal Code, Corrections and Conditional Release Act, and Prisons and Reformatories Act so that if a court is convinced that a convict knows where the bodies of their victims are but refuses to reveal the locations their ability to get full parole will be delayed. Offenders in this situation will no longer be able to apply for parole until they’ve been in prison for 10 years or half their sentence, whichever is shorter. The parole board will also be able to deny parole if they still believe the offender knows where the body is, and the offender can also be denied temporary absences as well.
In addition to this, during sentencing the refusal to reveal where a body is can be used as an aggravating circumstance. This can result in harsher sentencing.
Author’s Note
So just wanted to note here that I’m not actually sure this legislation does anything. Unless I’m mistaken first and second degree murder both carry a minimum sentence of life in prison, and you aren’t eligible for parole for 25 years for first degree murder or 10 years for second degree. Now this legislation applies to any instance where a crime was committed that resulted in death and the body was hidden but I really don’t see any situation outside of murder where someone is going to hide a body and refuse to reveal its location when convicted.
Progress of C-424
C-424 is currently outside of the Order of Precedence.
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