Frank Caputo (FILE PHOTO)
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October 04, 2022 - 12:33 PM
Kamloops-area MP Frank Caputo wants Canada to treat sex offenders more harshly.
He introduced private member's bill C-299 today calling for the maximum sentence for sex offenders to be extended to life imprisonment.
“Sexual offences in Canada are not treated with the seriousness that they deserve,” Caputo said in a news release. “We need to change the way sexual offences, especially those against children, are prosecuted and thought about.”
The maximum sentence for sexual assault against an adult in Canada is 10 years and has no mandatory minimum. Against a victim under 16 years old, that's extended to a 14 year maximum and a one year minimum, according to the criminal code.
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“In my time as a Crown Prosecutor, I often worked directly with victims of sexual violence and saw firsthand the devastation that sexual violence can cause,” Caputo said. “Only recently have we learned the true extent of the impact of sexual violence on a person, especially when the victim is a child. This change to increase maximum sentences to life imprisonment will clearly demonstrate to victims that the government understands the seriousness of the offence and will allow perpetrators to be punished accordingly.”
The criminal code already contains maximum life sentences for some sexual assaults. It only applies when a firearm is used and the victim is under the age of 16, but it also carries a minimum five-year sentence, or four years if the victim is older than 16.
Caputo wants to extend the maximum sentence for "nearly all" sexual offences. The news release does not specify exactly which offences it refers to.
"Robbery is the taking of property by force and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Yet sexual assault, the taking of consent and dignity by force, carries only a 10-year maximum sentence and a 14-year maximum sentence when the offence is committed against a child,” Caputo said. “This must change."
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His most recent private member's bill, introduced Oct. 4, is his second since his time in the House of Commons.
He joined MP Mel Arnold in his previous efforts with Bill C-291 to change the name of child pornography to "child sexual abuse material" in Canada's criminal code.
That bill was introduced in June, but has not yet been revisited at the House of Commons.
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