CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Intravenous injection

746.11 A sentence of death shall be executed by the intravenous injection of sodium thiopental administered in a quantity and in a manner calculated to cause death.

Recommen-
dation by jury

746.12 (1) Where a jury finds an accused guilty of an offence punishable by death, the judge who presides at the trial shall, before discharging the jury, put to it the following question:

You have found the accused guilty and the law requires that I now pronounce sentence of death against the accused. Do you wish to make any recommendation as to whether or not the accused should be granted clemency? You are not required to make any recommendation but if you do make a recommendation either in favour of clemency or against it, your recommendation will be included in the report that I am required to make of this case to the Attorney General of Canada and will be given due consideration.

Where jury is unable to agree on recommenda-
tion

(2) If the jury reports to the judge that it is unable to agree upon a recommendation, either in favour of clemency or against it, and the judge is satisfied that further retention of the jury would not lead to agreement, the judge shall ascertain the number of jurors who are in favour of making a recommendation for clemency and the number of jurors who are against making such a recommendation and shall include such information in the report required by section 746.13.

Sentence of death to be reported to the Attorney General of Canada

746.13 A judge who sentences a person to death shall appoint a day for the execution of the sentence, and in appointing that day shall allow a period of time that, in his opinion is sufficient to enable the Governor General to signify the pleasure of the Governor General before that day, and shall forthwith make a report of the case to the Attorney General of Canada for the information of the Governor General.

Appeal to court of appeal

746.14 (1) Where an accused is sentenced to death pursuant to a conviction and the sentence has not been commuted pursuant to subsection 746.15(1), the appeal from the conviction made pursuant to section 675.1 shall be heard and determined as soon as practicable and the sentence shall not be executed until after the determination of the appeal.

Appeal to Supreme Court of Canada

(2) Where an appeal from a conviction for an offence punishable by death is dismissed by the court of appeal and the sentence has not been commuted pursuant to subsection 746.15(1)

    (a) the sentence shall not be executed until after the expiration of the period for giving notice of appeal; and

    (b) any appeal from the judgment of the court of appeal shall be heard and determined as soon as practicable after notice is given thereof, and the sentence shall not be executed until after the determination of the appeal.

New time for the execution

(3) Where the execution of a sentence of death has been suspended pursuant to subsection (1) or (2) and the conviction for which the sentence was imposed is affirmed on appeal, a new time for the execution of the sentence, not less than sixty days and not more than ninety days after the delivery of the judgment in appeal, shall be fixed by the judge who imposed the sentence or any judge who might have held or sat in the same court.

Commuting death sentence

746.15 (1) The Governor in Council may commute a sentence of death imposed upon a person in respect of an offence to imprisonment for life where a majority of the jurors who found the person guilty of the offence recommended in favour of commuting the sentence.

Effects of commutation

(2) Notwithstanding this Act, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act or any other Act of Parliament, where the Governor in Council commutes a death sentence imposed on a person to imprisonment for life,

    (a) no parole may be granted;

    (b) no day parole may be granted under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act;

    (c) no absence without escort may be authorized under that Act or the Prisons and Reformatories Act; and

    (d) no absence with escort otherwise than for medical reasons or in order to attend judicial proceedings or a coroner's inquest may be authorized under either the Corrections and Conditional Release Act or the Prisons and Reformatories Act.

When judge may reprieve

(3) Where a judge who sentences a person to death or any judge who might have held or sat in the same court considers that the person should be recommended for the royal mercy, or that, for any reason, it is necessary to delay the execution of the sentence, the judge may, at any time, reprieve the person for any period that is necessary for the purpose.

Notice to authorities

(4) A copy of an instrument duly certified by the Clerk of the Privy Council or a writing under the hand of the Attorney General of Canada or Deputy Attorney General of Canada declaring that a sentence of death is commuted is sufficient notice to and authority for all persons having control over the prisoner to do all things necessary to give effect to the commutation.

Sentence of death in N.W.T., Yukon and Nunavut

(5) A judge who sentences a person to death in the Northwest Territories, in the Yukon Territory or in Nunavut shall, after appointing a day for the execution of the sentence, forthwith forward to the Attorney General of Canada full notes of the evidence taken at the trial and his report upon the case, and the execution of the sentence shall be suspended until the report is received and the pleasure of the Governor General is signified, and where, pursuant to such suspension, a new time is required to be fixed for execution of the sentence, it may be fixed by the judge who imposed the sentence or any judge having equivalent jurisdiction.

Pregnancy

746.16 (1) A female person who is sentenced to death may move in arrest of execution on the ground that she is pregnant.

Examination

(2) Where a motion is made under subsection (1), the court shall direct one or more registered medical practitioners to be sworn to examine the female person together or successively and to determine whether or not she is pregnant.

Arresting execution

(3) Where, from the report of a medical practitioner sworn under subsection (2), it appears to the court that the female person is pregnant, execution shall be arrested until she is delivered of the child or until it is no longer possible in the course of nature that she should be so delivered.

Prisoner to be confined apart

746.17 (1) A person who is sentenced to death shall be confined in a safe place within a prison apart from all other prisoners.

Who to have access

(2) No person other than the keeper of the prison and his servants, the prison doctor and a minister or a representative of a faith professed by the person who is sentenced to death shall have access to the person who is sentenced to death unless permission is given in writing by a judge of the court by which the sentence was imposed or by the sheriff.

Place of execution

746.18 (1) A sentence of death shall be executed within the walls of a prison.

Who shall attend

(2) The sheriff, the keeper of the prison, the prison doctor and any other persons required by the sheriff shall be present at the execution of a sentence of death.

Who may attend

(3) A minister or a representative of a faith professed by the person who is sentenced to death and any other person whom the sheriff considers it proper to admit may attend the execution of a sentence of death.

Certificate of death

746.19 (1) The prison doctor shall, as soon as possible after a sentence of death has been executed, examine the body of the executed person, ascertain the fact of death and sign and deliver to the sheriff a certificate in Form 52.

Declaration by sheriff and keeper

(2) The sheriff, the keeper of the prison and any other persons who are present at the execution of a sentence of death shall, if required by the sheriff, sign a declaration in Form 53.

Deputies may act

746.2 Any duty that is imposed upon a sheriff, keeper of the prison or prison doctor by section 746.18 may, and in his absence shall, be performed by his lawful deputy or assistant or by the officer or person who ordinarily acts for him or with him.

Coroner's inquest

746.21 (1) A coroner of a district, county or place where a sentence of death is executed shall, within twenty-four hours after the execution of the sentence, hold an inquest on the body of the executed person.

Identity of the body of the executed person

(2) The coroner shall, at the inquest referred to in subsection (1), inquire into and ascertain the identity of the body of the executed person and whether sentence of death was duly executed.

Inquisition in duplicate

(3) The coroner shall prepare the inquisition in duplicate and shall deliver one to the sheriff.

Documents to be sent to Attorney General of Canada

746.22 Where a sentence of death is executed, the sheriff shall, as soon as possible, send the certificates mentioned in section 746.19 and the inquisition referred to in subsection 746.21(3) to the Attorney General of Canada or to the person who, from time to time, is appointed by the Governor in Council to receive them.

Place of burial

746.23 The body of a person who is executed pursuant to a sentence of death shall be buried within the prison in which the sentence was executed, unless the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, the Commissioner of the Yukon Territory, the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories or the Commissioner of Nunavut, as the case may be, otherwise orders.

Saving

746.24 Failure to comply with sections 746.15 to 746.22 does not make the execution of a sentence of death illegal where the execution would otherwise have been legal.

Regulations

746.25 The Governor in Council may make regulations with respect to the execution of sentences of death.

15. Subsection 750(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:

Public office vacated for conviction

750. (1) Where a person is convicted of an indictable offence for which the person is sentenced to death or to imprisonment for two years or more and holds, at the time that person is convicted, an office under the Crown or other public employment, the office or employment forthwith becomes vacant.

16. Part XXVIII of the Act is amended by adding the following forms after Form 51:

FORM 52

(subsection 746.19(1))

CERTIFICATE OF EXECUTION OF SENTENCE OF DEATH

I, A.B., prison doctor of the (prison), at _____, hereby certify that I examined the body of C.D. on whom sentence of death was this ______ day executed in the said prison and that I found that the said C.D. was dead.

    Dated this ______ day of ______ A.D. ______, at ______.

      __________

      Prison Doctor

FORM 53

(subsection 746.19(2))

DECLARATION OF SHERIFF AND OTHERS

We, the undersigned, hereby declare that sentence of death was this day executed on C.D., in our presence in the (prison) at ______.

Dated this ______ day of ______ A.D. ______, at ______.

      Sheriff of....................................
      Keeper of the prison of.........................

____________________
______________________ Others
______________________

R.S., c. Y-1; R.S., c. 27 (1st Supp.), c. 24 (2nd Supp.), c. 1 (3rd Supp.), c. 1 (4th Supp.); 1991, c. 43; 1992, cc. 1, 11, 47; 1993, cc. 28, 45; 1994, c. 26; 1995, cc. 19, 22, 27, 39; 1996, c. 19

YOUNG OFFENDERS ACT

17. (1) Paragraph 20(1)(k.1) of the Young Offenders Act is replaced by the following:

    (k.1) order the young person to serve a disposition

      (i) in the case of first degree murder committed when the young person was sixteen or seventeen, not exceeding twenty-five years and not less than fifteen years comprised of

        (A) a committal to custody, to be served continuously, for a period that shall not, subject to subsection 26.1(1), be less than ten years from the date of committal, and

        (B) a placement under conditional supervision to be served in the community in accordance with section 26.2,

      (i.1) in the case of first degree murder committed when the person was under the age of sixteen, not exceeding fifteen years and not less than ten years comprised of

        (A) a committal to custody, to be served continuously, for a period that shall not, subject to subsection 26.1(1), be less than seven years from the date of committal, and

        (B) a placement under conditional supervision to be served in the community in accordance with section 26.2, and

      (ii) in the case of second degree murder, not exceeding ten years and not less than five years comprised of

        (A) a committal to custody, to be served continuously, for a period that shall not, subject to subsection 26.1(1), be less than four years from the date of committal, and

        (B) a placement under conditional supervision to be served in the community in accordance with section 26.2; and

(2) Subsection 20(4) of the Act is replaced by the following:

Combined duration of dispositions

(4) Subject to subsection (4.1), where more than one disposition is made under this section in respect of a young person with respect to different offences, the continuous combined duration of those dispositions shall not exceed three years, except where one of those offences is first degree murder or second degree murder within the meaning of section 231 of the Criminal Code, in which case the continuous combined duration of those dispositions shall not exceed

    (a) in the case of first degree murder committed when the person was sixteen or seventeen, twenty-five years;

    (b) in the case of first degree murder committed when the person was under the age of sixteen, fifteen years; or

    (c) in the case of second degree murder, ten years.

(3) Paragraph 20(4.1)(c) of the Act is replaced by the following:

    (c) the combined duration of all the dispositions may exceed three years, except where the offence is, or one of the previous offences was

      (i) first degree murder within the meaning of section 231 of the Criminal Code, committed when the person was sixteen or seventeen, in which case the continuous combined duration of the dispositions may exceed twenty-five years,

      (ii) first degree murder committed when the person was under the age of sixteen, in which case the continuous combined duration of the dispositions may exceed fifteen years, or

      (iii) second degree murder within the meaning of section 231 of the Criminal Code, in which case the continuous combined duration of the dispositions may exceed ten years.