Section 11(h): Double Jeopardy

Section 11(h) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

11. Any person charged with an offence has the right …

(h) if finally acquitted of the offence, not to be tried for it again and, if finally found guilty and punished for the offence, not to be tried or punished for it again;

Canada (Attorney General) v. Whaling, 2014 SCC 20

When the federal government passed the Abolition of Early Parole Act, three inmates serving sentences for first-time, non-violent offences argued that the retroactive application of such legislation infringed their right not to be “punished again” for the same offence. When they were sentenced, these individuals were eligible for day parole after just one sixth of their custodial sentences were served. The new legislation, however, extended their sentences far beyond what was initially imposed. Continue reading

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Filed under Section 11: Legal Rights, Section 11(g): Retroactivity, Section 11(h): Double Jeopardy, Section 11(i): Lesser Punishment

R. v. Wigglesworth, [1987] 2 SCR 541

In R. v. Wigglesworth, the Appellant was a police officer who had been charged with Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act for choking and slapping a detained person, and later charted under the Criminal Code for common assault towards the same detained individual. He challenged this charge as being double jeopardy, contrary to Section 11(h) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Continue reading

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Filed under Section 11(h): Double Jeopardy