[advocatedaily.com] Sex offenders who have been found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder (NCRMD), and received an absolute discharge from the Ontario Review Board (ORB), may soon be permitted to have themselves removed from sex offender registries, says Toronto criminal lawyer John Fennel. Fennel, an associate with Hicks Adams LLP, says the issue is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in the spring. In a decision released in April, the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) called for the federal and Ontario sex-offender…
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Canada: Top court to rule if mentally ill must be on sex-offender registry
[thespec.com – 9/26/19] The federal government is challenging an appeal court decision that found that the registry reinforces a stereotype that those who commit criminal acts while mentally ill never change and pose a permanent risk. News Sep 26, 2019 by Colin Perkel The Canadian Press TORONTO — The Supreme Court of Canada will have final say on the validity of laws requiring sex offenders to register when an accused is granted an absolute discharge after being found not criminally responsible. In a decision on Thursday, the high court said…
Read MoreCanada: Sex-offender registry laws discriminate against mentally ill, court rules
[theprovince.com – 4/4/19] Parts of federal and Ontario laws requiring sex-offender registration where an accused is granted an absolute discharge after being found not criminally responsible discriminate against the mentally ill and are therefore unconstitutional, Ontario’s top court ruled Thursday. While the court ordered information belonging to the man who brought the case to be deleted immediately from sex-offender registries, the justices also gave governments 12 months to fix the offending legislation, widely known in Ontario as Christopher’s Law. “Persons found (not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder)…
Read MoreCanada: Support group helps sex offenders in Saskatoon
[globalnews.ca 4/28/18] Much like there are support groups for alcoholics or drug abusers, one in Saskatoon is helping sex offenders. Meaghan Craig looks at its importance. As first reported by Global News, convicted sex offender ______ now has a new alias. In the last two months, the soon-to-be 30-year-old has taken the steps to legally change his name to ______ and mask his true identity to members of the public. This on the heels of long-term offender ______ arrest in late April, who was going by the name ______ ,…
Read MoreHow Sex Offender Registries Can Result in Vigilante Murder
Some Canadian conservatives are pushing for more public sex offender registries. But there is a history of deadly violence associated with them. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Law requiring lifetime sex-offender registration upheld, Appeal Court rules
Forcing repeat sex offenders to go on a national registry for life under provisions enacted by the former Conservative government is constitutional, Ontario’s top court has ruled. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Calgary man suing police, feds for demanding fingerprints because of his birth date is same as a sex offender
[calgaryherald.com] A Calgary man says he was forced to provide his fingerprints or give up a 12-year career of coaching youth hockey, all because he shares the same date of birth as a pardoned sex offender. And after a fruitless five-year odyssey for an explanation for what he feels is a violation of his constitutionally protected Charter rights, retired oil engineer Jim Besse is now suing the RCMP, Calgary police, the Calgary police commission and Chief Roger Chaffin. “I have always been upfront, saying, ‘Take five minutes and tell me…
Read MoreCanada: Court blocks extradition of Nova Scotia man accused of sex crimes in U.S.
Nova Scotia’s highest court is ordering Canada’s justice minister to take another look at her decision to allow the extradition of a Nova Scotia man accused of sex crimes in Minnesota. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Justin Trudeau accuses Conservatives of crass political games over sex-offender registry demands
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the safety of children is a priority, but he won’t say whether his government will move ahead with a public registry for high-risk child sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Officials advise Goodale to rethink plan of public sex offender database
Federal officials have advised Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to put the brakes on setting up a publicly accessible database of high-risk child sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Edmonton judge rules national sex offender registry is unconstitutional
An Edmonton judge has ruled that the national sex offender registry is unconstitutional as it is “over broad and grossly disproportionate” and violates people of their charter rights. In a recently released decision involving the case of an Edmonton man convicted of two sexual assaults, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Andrea Moen found the Sex Offender Information Registration Act removed judicial discretion to refuse to place offenders who present no risk of reoffending on the registry. Full Article Related http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/an-edmonton-judge-ruled-the-sex-offender-registry-list-is-unconstitutional
Read MoreCanada: NOT WANTED – The sex offender next door (Part 1)
Does a convicted and paroled sex offender live in your neighbourhood? While police occasionally issue public warnings about offenders moving into communities, their addresses are not disclosed. In some cases, such individuals may live in a residential area for months or years without the knowledge of their neighbours. Full Article Note: This is Part 1 of several…
Read MoreCanada: Supreme Court says judges can ban convicted sexual predators from Internet
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court took steps Thursday to bring the law up to speed to protect children in the rapidly evolving realm of cyberspace in a ruling allowing judges to ban convicted sexual predators from using the Internet. The case turned on one narrow legal issue — whether a new law can be retroactively applied to case that predated it. As a matter of legal principle, the high court rarely allows laws to be applied retroactively, especially when it comes to changes in criminal law on how punishment is…
Read More‘The most viscerally hated group on earth’: Documentary explores how intervention can stop pedophiles
An unsettling new documentary that features pedophiles advocating for themselves on camera argues that unless we provide these men with preventive therapy and mental-health support, we are failing their victims. Spotlighting “the most viscerally hated group on earth,” I, Pedophile stresses a crucial distinction few of us care to make: the difference between pedophiles and child molesters. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: American Sentenced For Possession Of Child Pornography . . . Of Cartoon Characters
There is an interesting criminal case in Canada where American ____ ____ 25, of Murrells Inlet, S.C., is under arrest for possession of child pornography. However, the images were not of human beings but cartoon characters. Canada treats sexual cartoon images as pornography – a view widely rejected in the United States as inimical to free speech protections. Full Article
Read MoreThere’s a Reliable Therapy for Sex Offenders — But Nobody Wants Them to Get It
In June of 1994, a convicted child molester named Charlie Taylor moved into a small apartment in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, across the street from a community center. He had no family. He had no parole officer. At the time, sex offenders deemed too dangerous to be let out of prison early were, paradoxically, released at the end of their sentences with no ongoing oversight or treatment from the Correctional Services of Canada. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Border agents stopped 150 U.S. sex offenders from entering Canada
Canada Border Services agents stopped more than 150 U.S. sex offenders from entering Canada, in part due to a partnership with United States customs, the federal government announced Monday. Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney made the announcement Monday morning at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport. In 2014 alone, information provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents helped CBSA agents refuse entry to 59 sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: B.C. rights group says mandatory minimums cost billions but don’t reduce crime
VANCOUVER – Ottawa’s push to implement mandatory minimum sentences is potentially adding billions of dollars in costs to the criminal justice system without reducing crime or making the public safer, says a report released Monday by a British Columbia-based rights group. Instead, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association’s report says longer prison sentences can actually make inmates more likely to re-offend while disproportionately affecting marginalized groups. The report adds to criticism that has followed the shift to mandatory minimums. The Conservative government has doubled the number of offences that carry compulsory…
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