case study

Case Study Samuel was born in Jamaica. When he was 5 years old his father immigrated to the United States and his mother to Toronto, leaving him and his sister in the care of their aunt. When Samuel was nine, his mother sponsored his sister and him to come to Toronto, Canada. Here he lived with his mother, sister, half brother and eventually his mother had two more children. After years of growing up in Rexdale, his mother was finally granted subsided housing through Toronto Community Housing Corporation and they had to move to a new community when he was 16 years old. The community he came from and new community he moved to have a long history of gang related turf war. Samuel did not want to live in this community and was very upset. At age 18 Samuel was charged. He received bail right away posted by his mothers’ sister who put up her home for bail. He was later convicted of that charge, assault causing bodily harm. At 19 he was charged again, this time with eight criminal charges. This time he spent 18 months on remand and was released in 2003 December after he was acquitted of all charges at trial. Seven years later in 2010 with the support of Toronto Employment and Social Services, Samuel begun the process of applying for a pardon (A pardon/record suspension allows people who were convicted of a criminal offence, but have completed their sentence and demonstrated they are law-abiding citizens, to have their criminal record kept separate and apart from other active criminal records - https://www.pardons.org/pardons/faqs/) which today is referred to as a record suspension in Canada after changes in legislation on March 13, 2012, Bill C-10 amended the Criminal Records Act (CRA), replacing the term “pardon” with the term “record suspension” and increasing the waiting periods for a record suspension to five years for all summary convictions and to ten years for all indictable offences - https://www.pardons.org/pardon-called-record-suspension-canada/ After completing all the steps, it was not until 2015 when the parole board of Canada sent him a request for the last requirement in the process, a written letter from Samuel discussing his charges and illustrating good conduct since the date of his last conviction. Good conduct is defined as behaviour that is consistent with and demonstrates a law-abiding lifestyle. Samuel must also show how a pardon would serve to sustain his rehabilitation and that granting a pardon in his case would not bring the administration of justice into disrepute. The board will then determine if whether you would gain measurable benefit from receiving a pardon and it would serve to sustain his rehabilitation as a law-abiding citizen. In April 2015 Samuel’s request for pardon was denied. The board stated “due to the courts acquittal determination, it appears to be your position that it speaks for itself and thereby you avoid addressing what your involvement in this offending was. Again, the documentation from police was found to be reliable and persuasive. You continue to minimize your involvement and the limited information you did provide is in conflict with file documentation…In accordance with section 4.1 (3) of the criminal records act, the parole board of Canada may consider the nature, gravity and duration of your offending along with the circumstances surrounding the commission of the offences….As held in Conille vs Canada (Attorney General, Federal court, trial division, May 16th 2003) the presumption of innocence has no application in the context of an application for a pardon” Samuel could not believe that he was being asked to admit guilt and involvement after being acquitted of these eight charges in question. His accused offending history was also up for consideration, not the charges he was convicted of. Not receiving a pardon would keep him in poverty and although he had access to community programs, these programs proved to not work for him. Questions (Please answer in paragraphs, references required) 1. Using the chart below, outline a plan of support for Samuel that includes each area of need, resource, contact information, notes and timeline. Please plan for at least 5 areas of need. 2. Explain why and how you think these resources would be beneficial and would help Samuel address his needs. 3. How would you support Samuel in executing this plan? 4. How else could you support him? 5. Now referred to as record suspension in Canada after changes in legislation on March 13, 2012, Bill C-10 amended the CRA, replacing the term “pardon” with the term “record suspension”. Please choose and discuss one of these changes and how the change impacts people seeking a record suspension.