Exclusive: DOJ report recommends ways to improve detainee access to lawyers in prisons

A Quebec judge has accused the provincial prosecutor of admitting to “regularly” proposing absolute discharges or lenient sentences specifically for non-Canadians convicted of crimes because they risk deportation, thereby artificially creating an “unnecessary” two-tier sentencing system. “This practice is so widespread that to deny that the prosecutor’s approach currently has the effect of creating a separate sentencing regime between Canadian citizens and individuals governed by the IRPA (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act) is tantamount to denying the daily reality of the...