Pubdate: Sat, 16 Apr 2016 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor Website: http://torontosun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Jordan Press Page: 26 MANDATORY MINIMUMS KILLED Supreme Court Strikes Down Previous Tory Government Laws OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down two federal laws from the previous Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda, ruling both to be unconstitutional. The decisions mean an end to rules for minimum sentences for specific drug crime convictions and limits on credit for pre-trial detention in certain conditions where bail is denied, giving trial judges more leeway in how they deal with offenders. In both decisions, the top court said Parliament has the right to set laws to maintain public safety, but the rules should not be so overly broad that they capture offenders whose incarceration would benefit neither themselves nor the public. Speaking in Waterloo, Ont., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is reviewing the laws around mandatory minimum sentences. "There are situations where mandatory minimums are relevant," Trudeau said. "The Liberal party of the past in government brought in mandatory minimums around serious crimes like murder, but at the same time there is a general sense, reinforced by the Supreme Court decision today, that mandatory minimums brought in by the previous government in a number of cases went too far. This is what we are reflecting on." In a 6-3 ruling, the high court said a mandatory, one-year minimum sentence for a drug crime when the offender has a similar charge on their record constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of section 12 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The majority ruled that mandatory minimums in this instance cast too wide a net and catch conduct that can range from a "coldblooded trafficker of hard drugs for profit" to someone who shares a small amount of marijuana with friends. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, writing for the majority, said that in the latter instance "most Canadians would be shocked to find that such a person could be sent to prison for one year." The Supreme Court also unanimously agreed to strike down provisions passed in 2009 that prohibited a trial judge from giving more than one-for-one credit for pretrial detention if a justice of the peace denied bail to the person because of a previous conviction. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom