From Smith to Smickle: The Charter's Minimal Impact on Mandatory Minimum Sentences

Authors

Debra Parkes, Allard School of Law at the University of British ColumbiaFollow

Faculty Author Type

Current Faculty [Debra Parkes]

Published In

Supreme Court Law Review

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2012

Subjects

sentencing; mandatory minimum sentences; Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Abstract

This paper attempts to assess the impact that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has had, and may have in the near future, on mandatory minimum sentences and their legislated proliferation. To answer those questions, the paper first briefly reviews the Supreme Court of Canada case law on the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences. The next two sections will outline the approach taken in the recent Smickle decision in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice before moving on to argue that courts should subject the purported goals, justifications and implications of mandatory minimum sentences to a more searching form of Charter scrutiny as we enter the fourth decade of the Charter’s operation.

Citation Details

Debra Parkes, "From Smith to Smickle: The Charter's Minimal Impact on Mandatory Minimum Sentences" (2012) 57 Sup Ct L Rev (2d) 149.