The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that life sentences without the possibility of parole are both “cruel” and unconstitutional, in a historic ruling that could result in more than a dozen mass murderers who committed “inherently” acts. despicable “the faint hope of being released in the future.
The court ruled unanimously on Friday that sentencing murderers to long prison terms with little hope of release runs the risk of discrediting the “administration of justice.”
The closely monitored case focused on the fate of Alexandre Bissonnette, the gunman who killed six worshipers at a mosque in Quebec City in 2017, but the court’s decision is likely to have consequences for at least 18 more people. who serve several life sentences.
In Canada, those serving a life sentence for first-degree murder can apply for parole at age 25. But in 2011, the Conservative government gave judges the ability to issue consecutive sentences, rather than concurrent 25-year blocs.
In Bissonnette’s case, the 27-year-old pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder in 2018, after entering the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec City with a rifle. semi-automatic and a pistol. open fire on the faithful. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the act a “terrorist attack”.
Based on the 2011 provision, Crown prosecutors asked a judge to impose a 150-year probation period, the harshest sentence ever handed down in Canada since the abolition of the death penalty. Prosecutors said Bissonnette should serve 25 consecutive years for each of the six people she killed.
Instead, the sentencing judge ruled that Bissonnette would have the opportunity on parole at age 40. This decision was overturned in 2020 by the Quebec Court of Appeal, which unanimously ruled that Bissonnette should have a 25-year probation.
Bissonnette, now 32, will be able to apply for parole at age 50.
The court’s ruling applies retroactively to 2011 and could affect at least 18 people on parole over the age of 25, including those who have exhausted their resources. In some cases, people have been given a 75-year waiting period before they can apply for parole.
Friday’s ruling will also affect Alek Minassian, the man who killed 10 people in Toronto in 2018 when he plowed a rental van onto a crowded sidewalk. The judge overseeing his case has stopped his sentence before the Supreme Court ruling, but he will now be forced to set his possibility of parole at 25 years.
Acknowledging the heinous crimes of those serving multiple life sentences, Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote that the sentence “should not be seen as a devaluation of the lives” of innocent victims.
“This resource is not about the value of every human life, but about the limits of the state’s power to punish offenders, which, in a society founded on the rule of law, must be exercised in a consistent with the Constitution “.