From the Smoky Lake Signal, Wednesday, June 13, 1979 Page 2.

Deciding the Sentence

Provincial Court

Provincial Court in Smoky lake is held in a formal wood lined room. The judge sits high at a wooden desk underneath a Crest of Alberta. On one side sits the Clerk of the Court. On the other side is the place for the witnesses to stand.

In many ways court is a battle. The Crown tries to produce evidence that the accused is guilty of the charges that the R.C.M.P. lay against him. The accused or the accused's lawyer tries to raise a reasonable doubt as to the charge. The charge must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In is in the judges job to listen to the evidence presented and to decide which council is right.

But a judge is not entirely free to sentence the guilty to any degree of punishment he wishes. For certain crimes the sentence is already set down. Take speeding: Driving 1 to 15 km over the speed limit will net you a $20 fine or 3 days in jail if you don't pay. 30 km over the speed limit will net you a $20 or 7 days. 30 to 50 kilometers over the speed limit will net you a $75 fine or 14 days. If you are ripping along at over 50 km you will lose $150 or 21 days in jail.

The case that is most often fought in court is driving with a blood alcohol of over .08. If you are caught with over .08 alcohol in your blood you will lose your drivers license for 6 months plus are fined. Do it again within 5 years of your first conviction and you kick over your license for 12 months and get fined or sometimes serve the mandatory 14 days in jail. A third try and you lose the card for 36 months and pay an even stiffer fine and again face a jail sentence of 3 months to 2 years.

If you refuse to blow into the R.C.M.P.'s machine you are charged with refusing to blow and if convicted, fined and loss of your license. 

No matter how mitigating the evidence, the judge has to prescribe that sentence. If you are found guilty and you are an unemployed student your fine will be less than the fine for a construction worker, but both lose their driver's license.

If a man is caught trafficking in drugs his sentence depends on the drug. Marijuana may get you 6 months, LSD a year, and Heroin will get 1 to 3 years.

It would seem simple to the layman for a judge to sentence a man convicted of a break, enter and theft. But the sentence is stiffer if he breaks into a house rather than an unoccupied commercial building, and is against stiffer if he instilled fear in the people into whose house he has broken into.

Why did he steal? What is his prior criminal record like? Would it help or hinder the man to send him to jail? If the guilty party was your son, wouldn't you say, "he's been good for 20 years, this is his first offence - give him a chance." In jail he will meet a lot of people that may teach him a lot of bad habits. A smart alecky 16 year old that goes to jail would soon have a new set of peers to look up to. He would be surrounded by a group of criminals who could really show him how to do it right. When he gets out of jail and finds no job because he is an ex con, those are the people who he may turn to.

"One man I have sentenced again and again," said Judge Tomyn, "has got 22 counts of break and enter plus property offences against him, 2 restricted firearm convictions, 2 for escaping lawful custody and 2 violations of parole. His record reads that he has spent 30 days in jail, then 60 days, then 3 months, then a year, then 23 months, then 3 1/2 years. Soon he is in prison more than he is out."

What does a judge consider when he is sentencing a guilty - rehabilitation, restitution, punishment, deterrents, protection of society, the circumstances of the crime, the degree of premeditation, the severity of the crime, the attitude of the offender, his prior criminal record, age, mode of life, character and mitigating circumstances.

Each man is different and each case is different.

Other articles from the Smoky Lake Signal, Wednesday, June 13, 1979.

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