Sentencing trends & issues

Number 38 — Sentencing in complicity cases — Part 1: Joint criminal enterprise

Sentencing trends & issues
Date
June 2009
Authors
Andrew Dyer
Hugh Donnelly

Sentencing in complicity cases — Part 1: Joint criminal enterprise

This is the first of two Sentencing Trends and Issues papers which discuss sentencing in complicity cases. Part 1 will discuss the sentencing principles that are applicable when an offender has been found to be criminally liable either on the basis of his or her participation in a joint criminal enterprise or by the application of the doctrine of extended common purpose. Part 2 will discuss the sentencing of aiders, abettors, and accessories before and after the fact.

This paper focuses on the leading sentencing authorities in five offence categories:

  • homicide
  • assault and wounding
  • robbery
  • kidnapping, and
  • break and enter.