Charging Someone with a Criminal Offense (Script 215): Difference between revisions
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Charging Someone with a Criminal Offense (Script 215) (view source)
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If the officer thinks that the person should be charged, the officer will write a report to a prosecutor (also called Crown Counsel) with the suggested charges. Follow up on your report by contacting the officer who took the complaint if you want an update on it. | If the officer thinks that the person should be charged, the officer will write a report to a prosecutor (also called Crown Counsel) with the suggested charges. Follow up on your report by contacting the officer who took the complaint if you want an update on it. | ||
If the officer thinks the person should NOT be charged, they will tell you so, and they will not send a report to a prosecutor. If this happens and you disagree with the officer’s decision, you can ask to speak to the officer’s supervisor. Also, you can file a complaint with either the Police Complaint Commissioner (discussed in script 221) or, if you are dealing with the RCMP, you can file a complaint with the Commission for Public Complaints (discussed in script 220). You can also charge the person yourself, as explained below. | If the officer thinks the person should NOT be charged, they will tell you so, and they will not send a report to a prosecutor. If this happens and you disagree with the officer’s decision, you can ask to speak to the officer’s supervisor. Also, you can file a complaint with either the Police Complaint Commissioner (discussed in script [[Complaints Against Municipal Police (Script 221)|221]]) or, if you are dealing with the RCMP, you can file a complaint with the Commission for Public Complaints (discussed in script [[Complaints Against the RCMP (Script 220)|220]]). You can also charge the person yourself, as explained below. | ||
==What is a prosecutor and what do they do?== | ==What is a prosecutor and what do they do?== | ||
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==What if the prosecutor won’t charge the person?== | ==What if the prosecutor won’t charge the person?== | ||
Talk with the | '''Talk with the prosecutor'''—if the police send a report to the prosecutor who then decides not to charge the person, you can call the prosecutor to see if they will speak with you. Listen carefully to the prosecutor because they are experts in criminal law. If you have new information, the prosecutor may send you back to the police. In that case, what happens next will depend on what the police choose to do. If you disagree with the police’s decision, you can follow the police complaint process described above. | ||
'''Charge the person yourself'''—if the police won’t investigate or the prosecutor won’t charge the person and you still disagree with their decisions, you can ask a Justice of the Peace (a JP) to charge the person based on “private information”. If the offence is in the ''Criminal Code'', a JP has to accept the charge. Even if the JP accepts the charge, in a typical case, unless there is strong evidence of a criminal offence, the prosecutor will likely end it (known as a “'''stay''' of prosecution”) because a prosecutor has to meet a higher standard of proof to prove a charge than a JP needs to accept one. | '''Charge the person yourself'''—if the police won’t investigate or the prosecutor won’t charge the person and you still disagree with their decisions, you can ask a Justice of the Peace (a JP) to charge the person based on “private information”. If the offence is in the ''Criminal Code'', a JP has to accept the charge. Even if the JP accepts the charge, in a typical case, unless there is strong evidence of a criminal offence, the prosecutor will likely end it (known as a “'''stay''' of prosecution”) because a prosecutor has to meet a higher standard of proof to prove a charge than a JP needs to accept one. | ||
