Monday, October 15, 2012

Rehabilitative prospects a mitigating factor in sentencing

R. v. Gouliaeff, 2012 ONCA 690 is a good source for the principle that rehabilitative prospects are a mitigating factor in sentencing:

[12] The trial judge's reasons for sentence reveal that he considered the appellant's rehabilitative potential. The evidentiary record indicates that the appellant made some efforts to comply with the law regarding the proper storage of firearms and there appears to be little prospect of his reoffending. However, the reasons suggest that the appellant's rehabilitative prospects were treated as a neutral factor or "non-issue" - rather than as a mitigating factor - by the trial judge. With respect, this was an error. The appellant's positive potential for rehabilitation should have worked to his benefit on sentencing.

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