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Court Martial discussion (merged)

Looking at the list of Court Martials that concluded - why are the penalties so light?

Possesion of Child Porn - 10 days

Theft of Explosive Substances - 30 days

Trafficking - 14 days + $1000 fine

Are these guys getting dinged civvie side as well?
 
Infanteer said:
Looking at the list of Court Martials that concluded - why are the penalties so light?

Possesion of Child Porn - 10 days

Theft of Explosive Substances - 30 days

Trafficking - 14 days + $1000 fine

Are these guys getting dinged civvie side as well?

No, and the sentences that are handed down at a courts martial are proportional to what a civilian would get for a similar offence. One must remember a couple of things when examining the military justice system:  one, many of the persons that are tried are first time offenders (always a mitigating factor in sentencing); and two, many of the incidents (not all) that are heard by the military courts wouldn't even make it to trial in the civilian court system.
 
Let me get this straight.  Your saying that if I were a civy and got caught trafficking I would on average receive 14 days in jail and a fine?  Seems light in either system.
 
The term "first offence" has always cracked me up.  Chances are it's his/her first arrest, probably the 9th or 10th offence.

Kat
 
CFL said:
Let me get this straight.   Your saying that if I were a civy and got caught trafficking I would on average receive 14 days in jail and a fine?   Seems light in either system.

Technically if you passed a joint to another person you trafficked in drugs (it is commonly refered to as "social trafficking" (which doesn't go to court in the civilian system). Now I don't know the circumstances surrounding this particular incident however I have seen individuals in CF charged for trafficking when they have done just that, and I suspect this may have been the case here. It seems to be a catch all charge when a number of soldiers cop to smoking or using drugs with each other. However just to set your mind at ease there is a  person serving significant DB time, 65 days (a matter of public record) for trafficking in a small amount of drugs.  Plus you have to keep in mind that CF members are usually released once they are convicted of these sorts of charges, which the military courts view as an added punishment.
 
Does getting convicted for drugs in the CF get you a "record" that is accessible to civies (ie like civies would get).
 
CFL said:
Does getting convicted for drugs in the CF get you a "record" that is accessible to civies (ie like civies would get).

In years past no, if you committed a serious offence within the military i.e. assault, sexual assault, drugs, it was buried with your CF records. Within the last 2-3 years however new changes in legislation compel the military police to use the Identifications of Criminals Act and the DNA Identification Act to pass this information along to the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) for certain offences. So if you do a nasty, your fingerprints, photograph and for sexual offences, your blood (for a  DNA profile) are submitted and are accessible to the civilian police, in short you have a criminal  record.
 
Jumper,
This here "In years past no, if you committed a serious offence within the military i.e. assault, sexual assault, drugs, it was buried with your CF records." doesn't jive with what happened when I got out.
I tried to get a pardon for a  civilian charge at 16 but was thus informed by the pardons and local police that ANY charge under NDA was there for minimum 5 years.
Trust me, its one of my the piss-offs about the time I served, lets see late once in the last 3 years of his job, ......almost all jobs/ positions= great employee........military= 5 years before pardon.[ and the 200 dollar fine, of course]


 
I should add a caveat if you were charged by the Military Police and your case went through the civilian courts you would be subject to the Identification  of Criminals act. You mentioned you were 16 when you tried to get a pardon, so I'm assumig this offence didn't happen while you were in the military. Secondly  if you were charged under the NDA (under the old system)  how would the civilian police get your conduct sheet? It's attached to your pers file and they have no access it, therefore they wouldn't know what you were charged for.. I'm afraid somebody was leading you down the garden path.
 
No, simple "awol"  for less than 30 minute- type CO's punishment, still have all the letters and responses that my father wrote to our local MP on my behalf.    No luck....
 
Since AWOL is not a Criminal Code Offence I don't understand why you would need a pardon?
 
Whoops, confusion..the criminal charge was for Theft over 200 when I was 16. When I planned on getting out 11 years later I wanted to apply for some jobs that would have required a criminal free past so I tried for a pardon but was informed it would take 2 more years  BECAUSE of the military charge 3 years ago.. [and they had the records]
 
A good link for information on pardons is http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/c-47/text.html  the Criminal Records Act.
 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
Whoops, confusion..the criminal charge was for Theft over 200 when I was 16. When I planned on getting out 11 years later I wanted to apply for some jobs that would have required a criminal free past so I tried for a pardon but was informed it would take 2 more years  BECAUSE of the military charge 3 years ago.. [and they had the records]

LOL: you did 11 years for theft over 200? WTF did you steal, a gold brick?
 
LOL Whiskey, here all this time I thought Bruce was a screw, not The screw  ;D
 
Quote from Whiskey 601,
LOL: you did 11 years for theft over 200? WTF did you steal, a gold brick?

....wow, thats why they called me "goldbrick" ;)
Na, I did the first 3 years for theft over 200, the rest I did for the same reason as Holmoka....
 
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