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Difference between revisions of "Charging Someone with a Criminal Offense (Script 215)"
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Charging Someone with a Criminal Offense (Script 215) (view source)
Revision as of 22:12, 15 December 2014
, 22:12, 15 December 2014→What if the prosecutor won’t charge the person?
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'''Talk with the prosecutor'''—if the police send a report to the prosecutor, who decides not to charge the person, you can call the prosecutor, who may 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 do. If you disagree with the police decision at this point, you can follow the police complaint process described above. | '''Talk with the prosecutor'''—if the police send a report to the prosecutor, who decides not to charge the person, you can call the prosecutor, who may 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 do. If you disagree with the police decision at this point, 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 a “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 (or | '''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 a “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 (or “'''stay''' the prosecution”). That’s because a prosecutor has to meet a higher standard of proof than a JP needs to accept a charge. | ||
If the prosecutor does not stay the charge, you still have to convince a Provincial Court judge to order the person charged to come to court. The judge can issue an arrest warrant or a summons to do this. You have to convince the judge there is evidence to prove the crime. But if you do that, the prosecutor may ask the judge to wait (adjourn or postpone the case) before issuing a warrant or a summons so the police can investigate the case. After the police investigate, if the prosecutor decides there is strong evidence of a criminal offence, the prosecutor will take over. If the prosecutor decides the case lacks merit and stays it, you can call the Crown Counsel office and speak to the prosecutor’s boss. | If the prosecutor does not stay the charge, you still have to convince a Provincial Court judge to order the person charged to come to court. The judge can issue an arrest warrant or a summons to do this. You have to convince the judge there is evidence to prove the crime. But if you do that, the prosecutor may ask the judge to wait (adjourn or postpone the case) before issuing a warrant or a summons so the police can investigate the case. After the police investigate, if the prosecutor decides there is strong evidence of a criminal offence, the prosecutor will take over. If the prosecutor decides the case lacks merit and stays it, you can call the Crown Counsel office and speak to the prosecutor’s boss. | ||