Mandatory minimum sentencing for child sex offenders is unconstitutional, rules B.C. judge
BY KEITH FRASER STORY PHOTOS ( 1 ) Before imposing sentence, the judge is expected to receive submissions from the lawyers on whether the mandatory minimum law should be struck down. Photograph by: Ian Mulgrew , PNG The B.C. Supreme Court has found a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison for an offender who sexually assaults a victim under the age of 16 to be unconstitutional. In declaring the law had violated the Charter of Rights, the court first looked at whether the mandatory minimum was grossly disproportionate for a 26-year-old offender convicted in Vernon of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl. Then the court turned its attention to whether there might be hypothetical cases where a minimum of one year in jail would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and therefore violate an offender’s rights. Justice Alison Beames found that th...