Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Georgia

Re: three strikes law

Canada does not have a "three strikes" rule. We do however have "dangerous offender" and "long-term offender" legislation in the Canadian Criminal Code. Under that legislation, following a defendant�s conviction the Crown prosecutor can apply to the Court to have a particular offender declared to be a "dangerous offender" or a "long-term offender". A special procedure is then followed that has a number of safeguards for the protection of the offender who is the subject of the application.

At the end of this procedure, which includes the calling of evidence, if the trial judge is satisfied that the offender should be declared to be a dangerous offender or a long-term offender, she has two options when fixing the offender�s sentence. The first is to fix a determinate sentence, for example a sentence of ten years in jail, or the judge may set an "indeterminate" sentence which means the offender must remain in jail until such time as he or she can satisfy the Canadian Parole Board that they are safe to be released back into society. The kind, and length of sentence imposed depends upon the type of application that is made by the Crown prosecutor and the evidence in support of that application. The "dangerous offenders and long-term offenders" legislation can be found in Part XXIV of the Canadian Criminal Code.