We Defend Criminal Charges (Summary)
Shoplifting
Criminal Code of Canada and criminal offences
Police and crown attorney are responsible to enforce criminal code in Canada. Criminal offences are either Indictable or summary conviction.
Criminal charges in any kind is detrimental to the accused person’s future in terms of his/her career, immigration status, mobility and more.
Once a person is charged with a criminal offence his/her fingerprints remain in the record of arresting police department and RCMP. When fingerprints are kept with RCMP, no clean criminal record of the person will be provided.
Even signing a peace bond or dealing with crown attorney or any other kind of resolution including absolute discharge or conditional discharge will not remove the accused’s fingerprints.
Make sure to have a professional legal advice before choosing the options offered by crown attorney.
We at Mokhtari legal Services provide timely and affordable services.
Our office is authorized to provide services if a person is charged with an offence which crown has elected to proceed summarily. List of common summary charges that we are allowed to provide services or we have experience in dealing with them: List of Criminal Charges
Possible Resolutions with no conviction
Peace bond is a protection order made by a court under section 810 of the Criminal Code. It is used where an individual (the defendant) appears likely to commit a criminal offence, but there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has actually been committed. Peace bonds are enforceable by police across Canada and are supervised like a probation order.
If one or more of the conditions of the peace bond are broken, you may have to pay the pledged money to the court.
By accepting the peace bond, fingerprints and mugshot of accused will be kept in RCMP and arresting police department for one year.
An Undertaking is a document created by either a court or the police that places the person being charged with an offence under certain conditions. Common conditions include abstaining from consuming or possessing drugs or alcohol or promising to stay away from certain people or places.
Section 499.(1) states that where a person who has been arrested with a warrant by a peace officer is taken into custody for an offence other than one mentioned in section 522, the officer in charge may, if the warrant has been endorsed by a justice under subsection 507(6),
- Release the person on the person’s giving a promise to appear;
- Release the person on the person’s entering into a recognizance before the officer in charge without sureties in the amount not exceeding five hundred dollars that the officer in charge directs, but without deposit of money or other valuable security; or etc.
Some offenders who are found guilty may be sentenced to an Absolute Discharge or a Conditional Discharge, neither of which is considered a criminal conviction record.
An absolute discharge means that the offender will have no further conditions or sanctions placed upon him after sentencing (with the exception of a small victim’s fine surcharge). It also will (or at least is supposed to be) automatically purged from the CPIC database after one year and will only show as a non-conviction on a police check for a one year period.
A conditional discharge also is considered a non-conviction, however, most often will come with a 12 month period of probation. Terms of probation will include standard clauses such as to keep the peace and be of good behaviour and notify your probation officer of any change of address or employment. Additional terms are often added to include the requirement to perform community service, make restitution, donate to charity, and attend counseling as required by the probation officer.
- The primary difference between an absolute discharge and a conditional discharge is that under absolute discharge, the offender is not required to serve a period of probation. Sometimes, however, in order to get an absolute discharge, the offender will have to complete upfront community service hours prior to sentencing.
Withdrawl, dismiss, or drop the charge- information can be accomplished by taking the information out of possession of the court or simply refusing to put the information before the court. In other words, a charge can be withdrawn by simply writing a letter to the clerk of the court directing them not to place the information before the court.
A charge dropped by the prosecutor, or a charge can be dismissed by the prosecutor, though a court also can dismiss a charge if the prosecutor has made a fundamental legal error in the case.
