Toronto Domestic Assault Lawyer: Analyzing an Adult Charge Screening Form in a Domestic Assault Case
Introduction
If you’ve been charged with a Domestic Assault in Toronto, you will be embarking on a process that may seem very unfamiliar to you. Part of that unfamiliarity will be caused by the legal language used in your case, including in your disclosure.
One of the very first things you will receive in your case is your disclosure. Within that disclosure, usually the Crown Attorney will attach a document, known as an Adult Charge Screening Form (if you are 18 years or older).
The Adult Charge Screening Form provides a very important snapshot of your case at the outset, and imparts critical information that you need to understand, either to locate a capable Toronto Domestic Assault Lawyer or to be able to properly represent yourself (assuming you do not retain a lawyer).
In this article, this form will be dissected so that you can understand what each component means and the legal significance of them.
Where Do I Find the Adult Charge Screening Form
Nowadays, when you receive disclosure, invariably it will be sent to you electronically in PDF format. The main component of disclosure will typically be referred with “InitialDisclosure” to start the PDF. The Adult Charge Screening Form will often be an independent set of pages in your Domestic Assault disclosure, and the PDF file will typically be worded:
- “Adult_Charge_Screening_Form”
- “ACSF”
Look for these labels in order to retrieve the form and uncover some critical pieces of information about your case.
Breaking the Form Down
The First Box on Page One
The first thing you will see is a box with the words REGINA v [Your name], followed by “Charges/Accusations”. This is fairly self explanatory. This indicates that the state is prosecuting you, and indicates the charges that the police have laid, including the sections of the legislation (usually the Criminal Code of Canada) that relate to those charges.
In domestic cases in Ontario, you will often see the following under the list of charges:
- “CC 266(1 – Assault”
This indicates that you are facing one charge of Assault, and the section of the Criminal Code “CC” is s. 266, which you can search online and read about. There is no specific offence known as “Domestic Assault” under the Criminal Code, and the domestic relationship is merely a factor that will dictate both certain procedure relating to the prosecution (like the court room you are in), as well as the fact that, if you are sentenced, a court must take into account that the offence occurred within a domestic relationship, which is an aggravating factor (or a factor that tends to increase punishment severity).
Part 1 – The Crown Intends to Proceed
The first component to the form, marked as “1.” on the form, immediately below the box discussed above, is a comment on how the Crown intends to proceed. They have two options. First, is to proceed with the charges as laid (which are listed above), or they can amend the charges as they see fit. If they decide to amend the charges, they will check the second box “As follows”, and lay out what they intend to proceed with.
For example, if you’re charged with a Domestic Assault, and in the police report, the complainant reported that you threatened to kill them, the Crown may add a second charge of Uttering Threats, and indicate that are proceeding both both.
Part 2 – The Crown Elects to Proceed
A Toronto Domestic Assault Lawyer’s eyes will immediately focus on this when reviewing the form. In short, the Crown’s intention on how it wishes to proceed involves two main options:
- Summarily
- Indictment
For most Domestic Assault cases, the Crown will proceed summarily. A summary conviction “election” does two key things for you:
- It caps the maximum penalties available for the offence
- It limits your case to be completed within the Ontario Court of Justice, with a trial by judge alone (if you choose to go to trial)
If the Crown chooses to proceed by indictment, this means that your case is more serious than the standard domestic assault case in Toronto or that the police laid the charges outside the standard limitation period. If the police laid the charges outside the limitation period, the Crown must proceed by indictment, unless you waive that limitation period. You will see a box titled “Summarily if limitation period is waived”, which relates to this very point.
In some, but not all cases, it may be in the interests of the accused person to have the Crown proceed summarily. If, later on, there is a finding of guilt or a plea of guilty, and a criminal conviction is registered, there is an appearance that the matter is of the more serious variety if the Crown was left to elect by indictment.
You should consult with an experienced Toronto Domestic Assault Lawyer regarding election options, and what the Crown’s choice means for procedure in your specific case.
Part 3 – This is an Appropriate Case For
The third component of the form is critical. It provides certain options that the Crown may offer which may end up leading to an outcome for you that does not involve a criminal record. These options include:
- Direct accountability
- Domestic Early Intervention Program
- Mental Health Diversion
- Peace Bond
- Indigenous Diversion
For our purposes here, in a Domestic Assault case, the Crown may check off two relevant boxes – peace bond and Domestic Early Intervention Program.
If they check either box off, it is likely that they are not seeking a penalty greater than a Conditional Discharge (which is not a criminal conviction in Canada). If they are seeking a peace bond, they are indicating that they ultimately will be willing to withdraw your charges.
The Domestic Early Intervention program is a program that requires you to complete counselling, following which the Crown will either seek a peace bond (and withdraw your charges), or seek a guilty plea and seek an Absolute or Conditional Discharge. The type of counselling required in the program is called “PAR Counselling”, which stands for Partner Assault Response. The program is operated by the Ministry of Attorney General, and is usually 12 sessions in length.
Part 4 – The Crown Is Seeking the Following Sentence Upon an Early Guilty Plea
This part of the form is crucial for a number of reasons. A Toronto Domestic Assault Lawyer will be able to tell a lot about the case from reviewing this section only. A number of things can be discerned:
- The seriousness of the domestic assault case
- The complexity of the case
- The Crown’s mind set as far as the direction in which the case may go
- Whether the case might be resolvable without a trial
Consulting with a Toronto Domestic Assault Lawyer, this piece of information would be critical to relay to them for them to provide a better plan of attack for your case.
Potential things you might see in this box, and a bit about what these items mean:
- A conditional discharge and probation: this means that the Crown is treating your domestic assault case towards the lower end of the spectrum in terms of serious, and does not want to saddle you with a permanent criminal record, but is unwilling to withdraw the charges at the time of taking the position
- A suspended sentence and probation: this means that the Crown is treating your case more seriously than a low level assault allegation, and is seeking to have you convicted of the offence and to sustain a permanent criminal record.
- A conditional sentence of imprisonment: this means that the Crown is viewing your case as a fairly serious domestic violence matter and is seeking not only a criminal conviction, but also a period of jail, which they believe could be served in the community
- Jail: this means that the Crown views your domestic case as very serious, and is seeking a penalty to address the seriousness of it. Jail is the most serious penalty one can receive in criminal law. Sometimes the Crown will specify a length of a jail sentence they are seeking (e.g. 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 1 year, etc), but in other cases, they will leave it general (and simply indicate jail).
Consult a Toronto Domestic Assault lawyer for a deeper understanding of the Crown’s position as laid out in this part of your form.
Part 5 – Upon a finding of guilt, the Crown seeks the following orders
This part of the form is fairly legally complex / involved. The orders here sought by the Crown assume that you have pleaded guilty or have been found guilty by a judge after a trial. These orders do not apply if your case is being diverted, peace bonded or otherwise withdrawn, but do apply, for example, if you receive a Conditional Discharge.
These orders are ones that a Judge has the power to make in domestic assault cases. The most common two ancillary orders are a DNA order and a weapons prohibition order. A DNA order, if made, would require you to attend with a court security officer, who would take a prick of your finger to draw a drop of blood to be kept on a DNA databank. A weapons prohibition order is typically for 5 years, and would restrict your ability to possess weapons of any kind.
Andrew Captan – Toronto Domestic Assault Lawyer
If you are facing a Domestic Assault or Domestic Violence related charge, consult an experienced Toronto Domestic Assault Lawyer today at (647) 878 – 6355 or e-mail andrew@captanlaw.com to schedule a confidential consultation!
