Sexual Offences

Accessing child pornography charges can be laid if police find evidence that a computer has been used to visit websites that host child pornography, even if none of the images were actually saved to the hard drive of the computer.

People are being charged with internet-related sex offences in ever-incresing frequency. The Government of Canada has also changed the law to make the punishment of these charges much more severe. Possession of child pornography charges now carry with them mandatory periods of jail time. This means that any conviction under this section will mean that the convicted person has to spend time in jail. This jail sentence cannot be served under house arrest.

Distribution of child pornography charges are laid when a person hosts child-pornography images either on their computer, or a computer under their control that other people can download from. Commonly when an accused person uses a peer-to-peer program to download unlawful images, often times these programs have default settings that allow those files that have been downloaded to be accessed by others, whether or not the user knows it is happening. In these situations, people who download for their own use, could be labelled as distributers and face very harsh sentences.

Invitation to sexual touching is the crime of inviting, counselling, or inciting a person under the age of 16 years to touch, directly or indirectly, with a part of his or her body or with an object, the body of any other person including the person under the age of 16 years.

In Canada, the laws have changed to now define a minor as any person under the age of 16. Any sexual activity with someone under the age of 16 is illegal and carries with it significant penalties including jail time and order that can last for years banning people convicted of these offences from a variety of public spaces and/or from using many common electronic devices.

Possession of child pornography charges can be laid if police find physical copies of child pornography, or more commonly, if there are child pornography files saved on a hard drive or electronic storage device.

People are being charged with internet-related sex offences in ever-incresing frequency. The Government of Canada has also changed the law to make the punishment of these charges much more severe. Possession of child pornography charges now carry with them mandatory periods of jail time. This means that any conviction under this section will mean that the convicted person has to spend time in jail. This jail sentence cannot be served under house arrest.

Sexual assault is any assault that is committed for a sexual purpose. Sexual assault is a very serious charge. In addition to a criminal record and potentially long period of jail, people convicted of sexual assault may have to register with a sex offender registry. As well, persons convicted of sexual assault can be monitored and have their liberty restricted for years after completing a jail sentence.

Simply being charged with sexual assault can cause great hardships in families and can make it difficult, or impossible to be employed in certain fields.

The process of prosecuting sexual assault cases can at time be very lengthy, meaning the stigma of these charges can follow the accused person for a long time, even if they are eventually found not guilty.

It is important to get a lawyer involved in these offences from the very beginning. During the first bail hearing, even before all the evidence is in, serious restrictions can be placed on the accused person’s liberty by a judge. It is important to have a lawyer to help negotiate the conditions to allow the accused person to continue their life in as normal manner as possible while waiting for trial.

Sexual interference is the crime of touching with a part of the body, or an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of 16 years old for a sexual purpose. The wording of this section is very broad and is designed to capture a wide range of conduct. In fact, there does not even have to be direct touching for this charge to be made out.

Sexual interference can only be made out if it is proven that the complainant was under 16 years of age and that the accused knew they were a minor. It is a defence to this charge if the accused did not know and had taken some reasonable steps to determine if the complainant was under the age of 16.

If convicted, there are are mandatory terms of jail associated with the charge.