Criminology assignment

LAYING CHARGES

In the study questions, the mid-term assignment and the final examination, you will generally be asked to consider the appropriate charges to lay in the context of the fact patterns with which you are presented. Since this is not a course in criminal procedure, you are not required to use the formal language that is used when a charge is laid in real life. You are only expected to identify the charge and the section under which it is laid. This is a simple task since, towards the back of your Pocket Criminal Code, there is a section entitled, “Forms of Charges.” This section sets out the relevant sections under which criminal charges are laid: for example, failing to provide the necessaries of life [s. 215]; murder [s. 235(1)]; manslaughter [s. 236]; and sexual assault [s. 271(1)].

Note that, when the Crown lays a charge of first degree murder, this charge “includes” the lesser charges of second degree murder as well as manslaughter. In other words, if the accused is acquitted of first degree murder, he or she may instead be convicted of second degree murder or manslaughter – the Crown does not have to lay separate charges of first degree murder, second degree murder, and manslaughter at the beginning of each trial. We might illustrate this by referring to a case in which the accused is charged with second-degree murder, following an assault by the accused on the deceased victim. Suppose that the Crown does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused formed the intent to kill the victim. In these circumstances, the accused would be acquitted of murder and convicted instead of manslaughter. The same principles apply to such offences as robbery (which usually includes the offence of assault] and attempted murder [which usually includes the offence of aggravated assault].