Bill C-25

57-58 ELIZABETH II

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CHAPTER 29

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (limiting credit for time spent in pre-sentencing custody)

[Assented to 22nd October, 2009]

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Truth in Sentencing Act.

CRIMINAL CODE

2. Section 515 of the Criminal Code is amended by adding the following after subsection (9):

(9.1) Despite subsection (9), if the justice orders that the accused be detained in custody primarily because of a previous conviction of the accused, the justice shall state that reason, in writing, in the record.

3. Subsection 719(3) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(3) In determining the sentence to be imposed on a person convicted of an offence, a court may take into account any time spent in custody by the person as a result of the offence but the court shall limit any credit for that time to a maximum of one day for each day spent in custody.

(3.1) Despite subsection (3), if the circumstances justify it, the maximum is one and one-half days for each day spent in custody unless the reason for detaining the person in custody was stated in the record under subsection 515(9.1) or the person was detained in custody under subsection 524(4) or (8).

(3.2) The court shall give reasons for any credit granted and shall cause those reasons to be stated in the record.

(3.3) The court shall cause to be stated in the record and on the warrant of committal the offence, the amount of time spent in custody, the term of imprisonment that would have been imposed before any credit was granted, the amount of time credited, if any, and the sentence imposed.

(3.4) Failure to comply with subsection (3.2) or (3.3) does not affect the validity of the sentence imposed by the court.

4. Form 21 in Part XXVIII of the Act is replaced by the following:

FORM 21

(Sections 570 and 806)

WARRANT OF COMMITTAL ON CONVICTION

Canada,

Province of ............,

(territorial division).

To the peace officers in (territorial division) and to the keeper of (prison) at ............:

Whereas (name), in this Form called the offender, was, on the ........ day of ............ 20........, convicted by (name of judge and court) of having committed the following offence(s) and it was adjudged that the offender be sentenced as follows:

You are hereby commanded, in Her Majesty’s name, to arrest the offender if it is necessary to do so in order to take the offender into custody, and to take and convey him or her safely to (prison) at ............ and deliver him or her to its keeper, who is hereby commanded to receive the accused into custody and to imprison him or her there for the term(s) of his or her imprisonment, unless, if a term of imprisonment was imposed only in default of payment of a fine or costs, those amounts and the costs and charges of the committal and of conveying the offender to that prison are paid sooner, and this is a sufficient warrant for so doing.

Dated this ........ day of ............ 20........, at .............

..........................................................

Clerk of the Court, Justice, Judge or Provincial Court Judge

5. Subsections 719(3) to (3.4) of the Act, as enacted by section 3, apply only to persons charged after the day on which those subsections come into force.

COMING INTO FORCE

6. This Act comes into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.