A COMPLETE GUIDE TO CRIMINAL TRIALS IN CANADA

Understanding the rules and legislation in your area is always vital. It will help us to lead a better life without getting into trouble. Thorough knowledge of different subjects may help you sometimes, and it could even save your life indeed. "How does the Canadian criminal trial system works" is what we are going to see in this article in detail. This will be helpful for both the people as well as those who are interested in learning the law.

The criminal trial system in Canada includes four steps or processes, which means a person who got arrested for any criminal activity should go through these four stages.

The Four Stages are

• Arrest, then release followed by your first appearance before the court.
• Pretrial
• Trial
• Stating the verdict and, sentencing

Let's see what happens in each stage

First Stage-Arrest

This is the first stage of the criminal trial. You will be arrested and can be released with a release order or an appearance notice. If the allegations against you are serious, the chances for your release will become low and you may be held under custody until your first appearance before the court. Probably your first appearance will be in a docket court. There will be a small time gap between the arrest and the court appearance.

In the first appearance, you will get the chance to explain yourself about the case. If you intend to plead guilty, there will be no more trials or hearings to make any changes in the verdict. If you say that you aren't guilty or you need the help of a lawyer, the trial will be rescheduled to another date. So if you want to adjourn the case, that is possible and you have all the freedom to get help from a criminal defence lawyer. The disclosure that you have submitted before the court will be reviewed prior to your next court appearance.

If you are found guilty after the trial, you have the option for sentence submission before the court. A sentencing hearing is a must-do process in a trial system and there you can try maximum to reduce the level of punishment you will get. Sentence submission refers to giving the court, your personal details, life background, and everything. If you aren't having any previous criminal background, you are more likely to get small punishments. For example, the crime that you have committed is stealing food from a shop, you can say that you were hungry, and had no money that's why you stole the food. The court will take these things into consideration and it might help you get a proportionate punishment for your crime.

Second Stage-Pre-Trials

The pretrial stage is very important if the accused person is found to be not guilty. So it's time for the accused to prove his innocence at the same time the crown needs to prove that all the accusations against the accused person are true beyond reason. The accused person is allowed to have discussions with his lawyer about the different aspects of the case and how to argue against every point before the court. The lawyer will help him to address the facts in the most appropriate way. However, there may be issues in the pretrial period. For example, if the crown fails to make proper disclosure to the case, the accused person's lawyer can argue that the case shouldn't proceed as the prosecution fails to prove the allegations. The crown may probably ask for an adjournment here to complete the disclosure and the case will be set back to another date.

If the court grants the adjournment, the next step will be a meeting that includes the accused person, his lawyer, the crown, and the judge. This meeting is referred to as a pretrial conference and different aspects of the case will be examined here. The intention of this conference is the complete disclosure of the criminal charge against the accused person before the actual trial. If the accused person is involved in a serious crime like murder, a preliminary inquiry will also be there. If the prosecution fails to prove the allegations or couldn't submit sufficient evidence, the accused person might get acquitted from the case. If the prosecution wins, the next option, the person could have is to make an election. If the crown agrees to "make an election", The accused person can decide whether he will be tried before a judge, or jury, or both judge and jury.

Third Stage-The Trial Stage

This is the most important stage where all the efforts of the crown and the accused person are taken into consideration by the court. The Canadian trial system is always open to the public and the trial records will also be public. The duration of the trial period depends upon the severity of your case. Canadian trials will not be very long unless the criminal case belongs to the serious crime category.

Presenting the witnesses before the court is the first step of the trial. If the accused person feels that his charter rights are violated in this case, he can make a charter motion which says that to conduct a Voir dire. A voir dire can be considered as a trial within a trial in which the accused person can ask questions against the evidence that the prosecution brought in. If the witnesses and the evidence against the accused are found to be fabricated, they can be excluded from the trial. After closing the voir dire, the actual trial will resume. If some evidence and witnesses are excluded during the voir dire, the crown can introduce additional evidence, if any. And the same is applicable to the accused person also. The trial can be closed with hearing the closing argument of the defence and the closing argument of the crown.

Fourth and The Final Stage

This stage includes the verdict and the sentencing

If the prosecution fails to prove the allegations against the accused person, he is free to go. If he is found to be guilty, the judge will make a decision about the punishment. There is still provision for the accused person to make submissions regarding what kind of punishment should be given based on his life background. The crown is also allowed to make the same submission regarding the punishment. In that case, again an adjournment will be granted for the final decision.

Closure Thought

A democratic judicial system should regard each person in front of the court equally and be open to public scrutiny, which Canada's criminal trial system is. That is how a judicial system should operate in a democracy. Low-income individuals will be given legal aid, which demonstrates the quality of the government.