Capital Punishment in Canada

This presentation provides an overview of capital punishment in Canada. It covers the definition of capital punishment, offenses leading to it, the history of capital punishment in Canada, the pros and cons, international politics, the situation after its abolition, religious views, and the focus of the Canadian government. The presentation also includes references for further reading.

Capital Punishment in
Canada

What is Capital Punishment?
Capital punishment is authorised maximum punishment in the form of
death penalty.
All across the world most of the countries use death penalty as capital
punishment.
In countries like Canada Capital Punishment is not death now.
When the verdict is given during the hearing it is called death sentence.
The act of carrying the sentence is execution.

Offenses leading to capital Punishment
Murder
Treason
Genocide
Arson with intention of killing

History of Capital Punishment in Canada
The first Capital Punishment took place in Canada under British
Rule and was enacted in 1859.
Since the inception of death penalty in Canada 710 people have been
hanged officially.
697 men and 13 women had been given the punishment.
Death Punishment has been only given through hanging.

History of Capital Punishment in Canada
In 1963 de facto was implemented to abolish death penalty.
In 1967 a moratorium was brought on death penalty.
In 1976 the death penalty was completely abolished by the country ‘s
government.
Bill C-84 was passed to abolish capital punishment.
Exceptions are there for instance certain military offenses.

Pros of Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment just instills fear among people.
It compels people to not to commit a crime that could draw them to
capital punishment.
It is considered to help reduce crime.
Canada doesn’t believe in Death Penalty as capital punishment.
Its present maximum punishment is lifetime imprisonment.

Cons of Capital Punishment
Death Penalty is considered as a deterrent of crime but still
countries like Mexico, America, African Nations and Asian
countries top the chart in crime.
Death penalty is considered unethical and immoral in most of the
cases.
Apart from that sometime a person is falsely accused and hanged
which means justice is breached.
Fuels vindictive behavior among the close relatives of the accused.

International Politics of Canada Regarding
Death Penalty
Canada Since a long time opposed death penalty.
The Government of Canada emphasised on asking for clemency for Canadians
facing death penalty in other countries as well.
However, they constantly made their efforts to ensure they receive clemency
but stated that the country would not “actively pursue” the issue.
The case of Ronald Allen Smith a criminal facing charges for murder of
aboriginal men in Montana showed the stand of the Canada government.

Situation after Abolition of Death Sentence
It was considered that killings would increase after abolition.
However, rate of homicide went downwards in 1976 itself.
In 1998 it hit all time low being 1.9 per 100,000 people.

Abolition in Practice
Since abolition of death penalty people have found clemency easily.
Lifetime imprisonment span has been increased.
False cases have been identified effectively.
Since 2000 there have been no further talks of reinstating of death
penalty.
Maximum punishment given by Canada Courts is lifetime
imprisonment.

Religious Views
Canada is nation with all kinds of religions.
It primarily follows Christianity.
Different religions different views but the country has been able to
hold them strong.

View of the Church
The church believes Clemency is right.
It follows the Holy Bible.
In the book capital punishment is considered direct breach of
the fifth commandment.

View of the Church
The church finds killing unethical and immoral.
It considers killing or murder as the breach of trust of the religion
and the dialogue of god.
Canadian Justice system wants to follow this successfully.

Focus of the Canadian Government
To have complete peace and prosperity in the society.
Lesser crimes
Low Jail management.
Complete abolition of punishment from the system.
It has so far succeeded to reduce crime and hopefully is able to
completely abolish all kinds of punishment.

References
Walby, K. and Piché, J., 2015. Making meaning out of
punishment: Penitentiary, prison, jail, and lock-up museums in
Canada. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal
Justice, 57(4), pp.475-502.
Fiander, S., Chen, A., Piché, J. and Walby, K., 2016. Critical
punishment memorialization in Canada. Critical
Criminology, 24(1), pp.1-18.
Ekstedt, J.W. and Griffiths, C.T., 2013. Corrections in Canada:
Policy and Practice. Elsevier.
Durlauf, S.N., Fu, C. and Navarro, S., 2012. Assumptions
matter: Model uncertainty and the deterrent effect of capital
punishment. American Economic Review, 102(3), pp.487-92.
Durlauf, S.N., Fu, C. and Navarro, S., 2013. Capital
punishment and deterrence: understanding disparate
results. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 29(1), pp.103-121.