In R v. Voong, the court addressed sentencing ranges for street‑level dial‑a‑dope trafficking in hard drugs. The court required sentencing judges to emphasize general denunciation and deterrence in order to recognize the harm that is done by these drugs in our society. The court also established that in exceptional circumstances non-custodial sentences could meet these principles of sentencing. The court was careful to reserve this type of disposition for rare cases and only where the offender had demonstrated a verifiable change in circumstances. At paragraph 59 the court writes: ... there must be circumstances that are above and beyond the norm to justify a non-custodial sentence. There must be something that would lead a sentencing judge to conclude that the offender had truly turned his or her life around, and that the protection of the public was subsequently better served by a non-custodial sentence ... it will be the rare case where the standard of exceptional circumstances is met.
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