DCHP-2

dangerous offender DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Law

  a convicted criminal, who, deemed too dangerous to be released, may be kept incarcerated for an indefinite period of time.

  Type: 5. Frequency — The term is part of the Canadian legal tradition at least since the 1960s. Although found elsewhere, it is of high frequency in Canadian English (see Chart 1).
  See also ITP Nelson, s.v. "dangerous offender", which is marked "Law", COD-2, which marks it "Cdn (Law)".

  See also: gate ((v.))  mandatory supervision  

  • 1961  [John McLaren, 50, a member of Tisdale Township Council, was sentenced today to an indeterminate term in penitentiary as a dangerous sexual offender.]
  • 1969  Under the new provisions, a dangerous offender, in addition to the automatic yearly review by the parole board, would be entitled to a hearing every three years before a judge to determine whether he should be released.
  • 1980  A Crown attorney has applied to have a 22-year-old man now serving a life sentence for murder and recently convicted of rape declared a dangerous offender, which means he would be incarcerated indefinitely. 
  • 1988  Moore, 30, who gained notoriety as the first female inmate to be gated after being declared a dangerous offender by the National Parole Board, was found dead in a prison hospital bed at 5.20 p.m. Dec. 3. It is believed that she killed herself. 
  • 1991  Conner said although Peters was already declared a dangerous offender and will be jailed indefinitely for the assault offences, he is concerned that in future, the courts might decide the dangerous offender designation is unconstitutional. A dangerous offender has his case reviewed every two years. 
  • 1997  Landreville said the decision to proceed on dangerous offender applications is made by the attorney general. 
  • 2006  MacFarlane also said Manitoba wants to revamp Canada's dangerous offender legislation to include career gang members. 
  • 2015  A dangerous offender designation can include the heaviest sentence in Canadian law, an "indeterminate" sentence, but the first step in the process is a psychiatric assessment, and the Crown hasn't yet decided if will request that.