CRIMINAL LAW KENT ROACH. Faculty of Law and Centre of Criminology University of Toronto

Transcription

1 E S S E N T I A L S OF C A N A D I A N L A W CRIMINAL LAW F O U R T H E D I T I O N KENT ROACH Faculty of Law and Centre of Criminology University of Toronto

2 DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD xxx PREFACE xxx CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW 1 A. Crime in Canada l B. The Criminal Process 3 C. Sources of Criminal Law 5 D. Criminal Offences 5 E. Regulatory Offences 6 F. The Criminal Law and the Constitution 6 G. Substantive Fairness 7 H. Procedural Fairness 8 I. The Elements of Criminal Offences 8 J. The Prohibited Act, or Actus Reus 9 K. Attempts and Other Unfulfilled Crimes 10 L. Participation in Crimes 11 M. The Fault Element, or Mens Rea 13 N. Regulatory Offences and Corporate Crime 15

3 viii CRIMINAL LAW O. Defences 17 E The Special Part: Some Selected Offences 20 Q. Sentencing 21 Conclusion 22 Further Readings 22 CHAPTER 2: THE CRIMINAL LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION 23 A. Criminal Justice and the Division of Powers 24 1) Federal Jurisdiction over Criminal Law 24 2) Provincial Jurisdiction to Enact Regulatory Offences 26 3) Prosecutors, Police, and Prisons 27 4) Trials and Trial Courts 27 5) Appeals and Appellate Courts 29 B. Criminal Law and the Charter 0/ Rights 30 1) Division of Powers and the Charter Compared 31 2) The Charter and the Investigation of Crime 32 a) Search and Seizure 32 b) Arbitrary Detention and Imprisonment 35 c) Right to Counsel 37 d) Entrapment 40 3) The Charter and the Criminal Trial Process 42 a) Disclosure 42 b) Right to Full Answer and Defence 43 c) Trial in a Reasonable Time 44 d) Pre-Trial Publicity 45 e) Right to a Jury Trial 45 D Right to Be Presumed Innocent 46 i) Quantum of Proof 47 ii) Persuasive Burdens 48 iii) Presumption Applies to Elements of Offences, Collateral Factors, and Defences 49 iv) Evidential Burdens and Mandatory Presumptions 52 v) Threshold "Air of Reality" Tests 53 vi) Summary 54 g) Other Trial Rights 55 4) The Charter and Substantive Criminal Offences and Defences 56 a) Fundamental Freedoms 56 b) Principles of Fundamental Justice 58 c) Vagueness 60 d) Gross Disproportionality 61

4 Detailed Table of Contents ix e) Fault Requirements 62 i) Moral Innocence and Absolute Liability 62 ii) Negligence As a Sufficient Fault Element under the Charter for Most Offences 63 iii) Negligence Standards: Marked Departure from the Standards of a Non-Individuated Reasonable Person 65 iv) No Requirement of Correspondence or Symmetry between Prohibited Act and Fault Element 66 v) Subjective Fault Required in Relation to the Prohibited Act for a Few Offences with Special Stigma 66 f) Criminal Defences TO g) Moral Involuntariness 71 5) The Charter and Punishment 72 Conclusion 73 Further Readings 75 CHAPTER 3: THE PROHIBITED ACT, OK ACTUS REUS ie A. Codification of the Criminal Act 77 1) Strict and Purposive Construction of the Criminal Law 79 2) Requirements for Marked Departure and the De Minimis Defence 84 3) Unconstitutionally Vague and Overbroad Laws 85 4) Ignorance of the Law 88 a) Distinguishing Mistakes of Law and Fact 89 b) Preclusion of Mistake of Law As the Only Defence Making an Offence One of Absolute Liability 91 c) Non-Publication 91 d) Mens Rea and Mistake of Law 91 e) Officially Induced Error 93 5) Application of the Criminal Code: Territorial and Age-Based Restrictions 94 6) Policy Elements in the Definition of the Actus Reus: The Case of Consent 95 B. The Role of the Actus Reus in Criminal Liability 99 1) The Coincidence of the Actus Reus and Mens Rea 99 2) Causing Prohibited Consequences 101 a) Statutory Provisions Concerning Causation 102 b) General Principles of Causation 102 c) Concurrent Causes and New Acts That Sever the Chain of Causation 104 d) Causation in Non-Homicide Cases 106 3) Omissions 107

5 x CRIMINAL LAW 4) Voluntariness of the Act 109 Conclusion ill Further Readings 114 CHAPTER 4: UNFULFILLED CRIMES AND PARTICIPATION IN CRIMES us A. Attempts 118 1) Mens Rea for Attempts U9 a) Constitutional Fault Element for Attempted Murder 120 b) Mens Rea for Other Attempted Offences 121 2) The Actus Reus of Attempts 122 3) Impossibility and Attempts 125 B. Conspiracy 127 1) The Actus Reus of Conspiracy 128 a) Attempted Conspiracies and Other Attempts to Combine Inchoate Forms of Liability 129 2) The Mens Rea for Conspiracy 130 3) Impossibility and Conspiracy 131 C. Counselling a Crime That Is Not Committed 132 1) The Actus Reus of Counselling a Crime That Is Not Committed 132 2) The Mens Rea for Counselling a Crime That Is Not Committed 133 3) Impossibility and Counselling 135 D. Counselling a Crime That Is Committed 136 1) The Actus Reus of Counselling a Crime That Is Committed 136 2) The Mens Rea for Counselling a Crime That Is Committed 137 E. Aiding and Abetting 137 1) The Actus Reus of Aiding and Abetting 138 2) The Mens Rea for Aiding and Abetting 140 F. Common Intention to Commit an Unlawful Purpose and Section 21(2) 143 1) The Actus Reus of Section 21(2) 143 2) The Mens Rea for Section 21(2) 144 a) Common Unlawful Purpose 144 b) Knew or Ought to Have Known That the Crime Would Be Committed 145 G. Accessory after the Fact 147

6 Detailed Table of Contents x 1) The Actus Reus of Being an Accessory after the Fact 147 2) The Mens Rea for Being an Accessory after the Fact 147 Conclusion 148 Further Readings 150 CHAPTER 5: THE FAULT ELEMENT, OR MENS REA m A. Conceptual Considerations 152 1) The Relation of the Fault Element to the Prohibited Act 152 2) Subjective and Objective Fault Elements 154 3) Common Law Presumptions of Mens Rea 156 4) Constitutional Requirements of Mens Rea 158 5) Fault Elements in Relation to the Defences of Mistake of Fact and Intoxication 164 B. The Degrees of Subjective Mens Rea 165 1) Intent, Purpose, or Wilfulness 165 2) Intent, Purpose, or Wilfulness Distinguished from Motive 169 3) Knowledge 171 4) Recklessness 172 5) Wilful Blindness 173 6) Transferred Subjective Mens Rea 176 C. The Degrees of Objective Mens Rea 176 1) Who Is the Reasonable Person? 177 2) Degree of Negligence 179 3) The Relevance of Subjective Perceptions and Exculpatory Factors to Objective Fault 182 D. Mistake of Fact 184 1) Early Cases 184 2) Mistake Related to the Degree of Fault 185 3) Mistake of Fact and Drug Offences 186 4) Mistake of Fact and Sexual Assault 186 E. Mixed Subjective and Objective Fault Elements 189 Conclusion 191 Further Readings 193 CHAPTER 6: REGULATORY OFFENCES AND CORPORATE CRIME 194 A. Absolute Liability Offences 196

7 xii CRIMINAL LAW 1) The Common Law Presumption against Absolute Liability 197 2) The Charter and Absolute Liability 199 3) Corporations and the Charter 201 4) Corporate Liability for Absolute Liability Offences 202 5) Defences to Absolute Liability Offences 202 B. Strict Liability Offences 203 1) Simple Negligence 203 2) Negligence and the Charter 204 3) The Defence of Due Diligence 205 4) The Defence of Due Diligence and the Charter 206 5) Corporate Liability for Strict Liability Offences 207 6) Requirements of Fault beyond Negligence in Regulatory Offences 208 C. Vicarious Liability 209 1) Vicarious Liability and the Charter 210 D. Corporations and Mens Rea Offences 211 1) The Common Law Directing Mind Approach 211 2) Bill C-45: New Statutory Provisions for Corporate Criminal Liability 213 a) Organizational Liability 214 b) Representatives of an Organization 215 c) Senior Officers of an Organization 215 d) Section 22.1 of the Criminal Code and Organizational Fault for Negligence Offences 216 i) The Commission of the Prohibited Act by the Organization's Representative(s) 217 ii) Marked Departure from Reasonable Standards by the Organization's Senior Officer(s) 217 e) Section 22.2 of the Criminal Code and Organizational Fault for Subjective Intent Offences 219 i) Senior Officers Being a Party to the Offence 220 ii) Senior Officers Directing Representatives to Commit the Offence 220 iii) Senior Officers Failing to Prevent Representatives from Committing the Offence 222 Conclusion 223 Further Readings 224 CHAPTER 7: INTOXICATION 226 A. Beard's Case 227

8 Detailed Table of Contents xiii B. The Distinction between General and Specific Intent Offences 228 C. Liability for the Intoxicated Commission of General Intent Offences 230 D. Involuntary Intoxication 232 E. Extreme Intoxication and General Intent Offences 233 1) The Development of the Daviault Defence 233 2) The Legislative Response to Daviault: Section ) The Constitutionality of Section F. Intoxication and Mistake of Fact 248 G. Liability for the Intoxicated Commission of Specific Intent Offences 249 1) Intent Not Capacity to Commit the Offence 250 2) Threshold Air of Reality Tests 252 Conclusion 253 Further Readings 255 CHAPTER 8: MENTAL DISORDER AND AUTOMATISM 256 A. Procedural Considerations in the Mental Disorder Defence 257 1) Unfuness to Stand Trial 257 2) Who Can Raise the Mental Disorder Defence? 259 3) Burden of Proof 260 4) Disposition of an Accused Acquitted by Reason of Mental Disorder 261 B. The M'Naghten Rules and Their Codification 263 C. Mental Disorder or Disease of the Mind 265 1) Policy Considerations 265 2) Continuing Danger and Internal Causes 266 3) The Cooper Definition 268 4) Disease of the Mind and Transitory States 269 5) Disease of the Mind and Organic Conditions 270 D. Capacity to Appreciate the Nature and Quality of the Act 271 E. Capacity to Know That the Act Is Wrong 273 F. Irresistible Impulse 275 G. Effect of a Mental Disturbance Short of Insanity on Mens Rea 275 H. Automatism 277

9 TV Duress 320 xiv CRIMINAL LAW 1) Relation to Mental Disorder and Consequences of an Automatism Defence 277 2) Air of Reality and Persuasive Burdens of Proof 279 3) Automatism and Sleepwalking 28J 4) Automatism and Emotional Blows 283 5) Automatism and Organic Conditions 285 6) Automatism and Intoxication 286 7) Automatism and Other Defences 287 Conclusion 288 Further Readings 290 CHAPTER 9: SELF-DEFENCE, NECESSITY, AND DURESS 291 A. Conceptual Considerations 293 1) Excuses and Justifications 293 2) Relation to Fault Element 294 3) Subjective and Objective Components 295 4) Burden of Proof 297 5) Air of Reality 297 B. Self-Defence 298 1) Section 34(1) 298 2) Section 34(2) 299 a) Reasonable Apprehension of an Unlawful Assault 301 b) Reasonable Apprehension of Death or Grievous Bodily Harm 301 c) Reasonable Belief in Lack of Alternatives to Prevent Death or Grievous Bodily Harm 302 3) Self-Defence and the Modified Objective Standard 304 4) Section ) Section ) Excessive Self-Defence 307 7) Defence of Property 308 8) Related Defences 310 C. Necessity 311 1) Necessity an Excuse and Not a Justification 313 2) Imminent Peril and Danger 315 3) No Legal Way Out or Safe Avenue of Escape 317 4) Proportionality Required between Harm Inflicted and Harm Avoided 318 5) Modified Objective Standard for Imminence and No Legal Way Out but Not Proportionality 319

10 Detailed Table of Contents xv 1) Section a) Threats of Immediate Death or Bodily Harm from a Person Who Is Present 322 b) Threats Can Be Directed against the Accused or a Third Party 322 c) Subjective Belief That Threats of Death or Bodily Harm Will Be Carried Out 323 d) Excluded Offences 323 e) No Defence If Accused Is Party to a Conspiracy or Criminal Association 324 f) Section 17 and the Charter 325 2) The Common Law Defence of Duress 327 a) Imminent Threat of Death or Bodily Harm 328 b) No Safe Avenue of Escape and No Legal Way Out 328 c) Proportionality and the Question of Excluded Offences 329 d) The Modified Objective Standard 330 3) Duress and Mens Rea 331 4) Summary 333 Conclusion 334 Further Readings 336 CHAPTER 10: THE SPECIAL PART HOMICIDE, SEXUAL, PROPERTY, AND TERRORISM OFFENCES 338 A. Homicide Offences 339 1) The Actus Reus of Causing Death 339 a) Statutory Provisions in Homicide Cases 340 b) General Principles of Causation in Homicide Cases 341 c) Substantial Cause Requirements for Some Forms of First-Degree Murder 344 d) Concurrent Causes of Death and New Acts That Break the Chain of Causation 345 2) Murder 347 a) The Constitutionally Required Fault for Murder 347 b) Section 229(a)(i) 350 c) Section 229(a)(ii) 350 d) Section 229(b) and Transferred Intent 351 e) Section 229(c) 352 3) First-Degree Murder 353 a) Planned and Deliberate Murder under Sections 231 (2) and (3) 353 b) Killing Police Officers and Other Officials in the Execution of Their Duties 354 c) Killing While Committing Other Serious Crimes 355

11 xvi CRIMINAL LAW 4) Provocation 357 a) No Provocation When the Accused Incites the Provocation or When the Victim Is Exercising a Legal Right 358 b) The Requirement of Sudden Provocation 359 c) Subjective Standard of Acting before Passions Have Cooled 361 d) Objective Standard of Depriving an Ordinary Person of Self- Control 362 i) The Modified Objective Standard 365 ii) Factors Not Relevant to an Ordinary Person 367 iii) Cultural Background of the Accused 368 e) Proportionality Not Required 371 f) Provocation and the Charter 371 g) Relation of Provocation to the Fault Element 373 h) Relation of Provocation to Other Defences 375 5) Infanticide 375 6) Manslaughter 376 a) Unlawful Act Manslaughter under Section 222(5)(a) 376 b) Criminal Negligence Manslaughter under Sections 222(5) (b) and c) Manslaughter under Sections 222(5)(c) and (d) 380 7) Suicide and Assisted Suicide 380 B. Sexual Offences 381 1) Sexual Assault Offences 381 2) The Actus Reus of Sexual Assault 382 a) Assaults under Section b) Sexual Assaults Distinguished from Other Assaults 382 c) Consent under Section d) Consent in Ewanchuk 383 e) Specific Instances Where Consent Is Not Valid 385 3) The Mens Rea of Sexual Assault 387 a) Mistaken Belief in Consent 387 b) Establishing an Air of Reality for a Mistake of Fact Defence 388 c) Wilful Blindness in Relation to Consent 389 d) New Restrictions on the Pappajohn Mistake of Fact Defence under Section e) The New Requirement of Reasonable Steps in Section 273.2(b) The Constitutionality of Section 273.2(b) 394 g) Sexual Assault and Intoxication 396 C. Property Offences 397 1) Theft 397 2) Fraud 398 D. Terrorism Offences 401

12 1) The Offence of Participation in a Terrorist Group 402 2) Definition of a Terrorist Group 403 3) Definition of Terrorist Activities 403 4) The Requirement of Political or Religious Motive 406 5) Fault Elements in Other Terrorism Offences 407 Conclusion 409 Further Readings 412 CHAPTER 11: SENTENCING m A. Procedural Considerations 415 1) The Guilty Plea 415 2) The Sentencing Hearing 417 3) Sentencing Appeals 418 B. The Principles and Purposes of Sentencing 418 Detailed Table of Contents xvii 1) The Fundamental Principle of Proportionality 420 2) The Fundamental Purpose of Sentencing 421 3) Denouncing Unlawful Conduct 421 4) Deterring and Incapacitating Offenders 422 a) General Deterrence 423 b) Specific Deterrence 423 5) Rehabilitating Offenders 424 6) Providing Reparations and Promoting a Sense of Responsibility 425 7) Sentencing Aboriginal Offenders 426 C. Aggravating and Mitigating Factors in Sentencing 427 D. Constitutional Considerations 428 E. The Meaning of an Imprisonment Sentence: Parole and Remission 431 F. Sentences Other Than Imprisonment 431 1) Alternative Measures 431 2) Absolute and Conditional Discharges 432 3) Probation 432 4) Conditional Sentences of Imprisonment 433 5) Fines 434 6) Restitution 435 G. Crown Pardons and Remissions 436 Conclusion 436 Further Readings 437

13 xviii CRIMINAL LAW CHAPTER 12: CONCLUSION 439 A. The Charter and the Criminal Law 441 1) The Charter and the Due Process Model 441 2) The Charter and the Crime Control Model 442 3) The Charter and the Punitive Model of Victims' Rights 444 4) The Non-Punitive Model of Victims' Rights 445 B. Trends in the Criminal Law 446 1) Definition of Crimes 446 2) Subjective and Objective Fault Elements 447 3) Regulatory Offences and Corporate Crime 450 4) Intoxication, Mental Disorder, and Other Defences 451 C. Perspectives on the Criminal Law 453 1) Historical Perspectives 453 2) Economic Perspectives 454 3) Law and Society Perspectives 455 4) Legal Process Perspectives 456 5) Philosophical Perspectives 457 6) Critical Perspectives 458 7) Feminist Perspectives 459 Further Readings 461 GLOSSARY 463 TABLE OF CASES 469 INDEX 499 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 505