People experiencing mental health issues who have been charged with low-risk criminal offences may be eligible for mental health diversion. If they are approved, mental health court workers assist the accused to develop a diversion plan to:
Most criminal offences are “hybrid” offences. This means the Crown uses the specific facts of each case to decide if to prosecute the case as a summary offence or as an indictable offence:
An accused person charged with an indictable offence usually has the choice of a trial in the Ontario Court of Justice or in the Superior Court of Justice. The offences listed in section 469 can only have trials in the Superior Court of Justice. The offences listed in section 469 include:
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See plead guilty.
When you’re charged with multiple crimes in different incidents, you can ask the Crown for a global resolution. This means the Crown agrees to deal with all the crimes together and to have all the charges resolved at once.
If your charges are at different courthouses, the Crowns at both locations have to agree before a global resolution can be...
When your case is held down it means that the court has not finished addressing it. The court will come back to your case at some point later that day. You must not leave the courthouse if your case is being held down. You must return to the courtroom that day to finish it or adjourn your case to the next court date.
A way of diverting youth criminal behaviour. EJS can be imposed before or after a young person is charged with a criminal offence. Examples of EJS include:
If you finish the program, your court case is over and you will not have a youth court...
This is the information that the police and Crown have about your case. The Crown must give you all the disclosure they have about your case, unless it is covered by privilege. The disclosure may include:
If you are discharged after a preliminary hearing, the judge has decided that there is not enough evidence to order you to stand trial in the Superior Court of Justice. Your court case will be over and you will not be convicted of the crime unless the crown appeals the discharge.
This is a special way of treating certain types of information. Information that is privileged cannot be used or shared in court or disclosed to anyone outside of court unless permission is given by the party to whom the privilege attaches. Privilege helps to encourage relationships that are necessary for the proper functioning of the...