Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
Maybe I'm wrong and a lawyer can correct me, but under the purist form of the law, its the act that is supposed to be judged and nothing else.
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We can say that, (and a lawyer can give a better answer here) but just looking at previous cases there are many, many times where sentencing of the offender is influenced by their life. I distinctly remember a "Walter white" case in Alberta where a man robbed a bank (didn't hurt anyone) but did it because he had cancer and was out of work and desperate to provide for his family. He received consideration for those circumstances that certainly impacted his judgement.
Youth and the homeless are given special consideration as well quite often. Someone who is 17 and 300 days can get a lighter sentence for he same crime as someone 70 days older. There are (negative) examples in the U.S. of rapists getting a light sentence because they were good college kids with promising athletic careers.
Agree of disagree, it makes sense that if other factors are considered, systemic racism should be one of the many.
In Canada, aside from the youth thing, I don't believe it directly effects the actual range of punishment (as in, X crime gets you between X and X) but it doesn't effect where on that range it falls. A serial murderer likely isn't going to get a lenient sentence, but someone on low level charges might be given more consideration.
That's just my take, happy to taken to the cleaners if I'm totally wrong.