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Habitual Offender Act Implemented.
Canada's dangerous offender laws have originated from the 1947 Habitual Offender Act, which dealt with repeat offenders that have past criminal records. -
Ouimet Report
The Canadian Committee on Corrections, compiled a report known as the Ouimet Report. This report discovered that the habitual offenders designation was not effective, and had a need to be replaced. This lead to the inception of Bill C-51. -
Habitual Offender Act and Dangerous Sexual Offender Replaced.
In the year 1977, the title of "habitual offender" and "dangerous sexual offender" were both replaced by the term "dangerous offender." -
Bill C-51
Changes in this bill contained a dangerous offender provision, and in these provisions, a criminal be deemed a dangerous offender due to serious personal injury, sexual or non-sexual related. -
Paul Carlson
1980, Paul Carlson raped a nurse, threatening her with a knife. In 1984, he molested 3 girls and was sentenced to 9 years. He was officially recognized as a dangerous offender in 1984, however his sentence had not changed. After writing threatening letters to Crown prosecutors in which he had threatened future acts of violence, he was finally charged. He was again declared a dangerous offender in 1992 and given an indefinite prison term. -
John Horace Oughton
John Oughton was known as the “Paper Bag Rapist”; he would placed a paper bag over the head of his victims, and then he proceeded to sexually assault them. This occured over an 8 year period, and in 1987, he was convicted of 14 sex related offenses. -
National Flagging System Established.
The National Flagging System was created on March 10, 1995 to track high-profile violent offenders; individuals who are potential candidates for dangerous offender or long term offender applications. Information on these potential offenders are available when needed. Since its creation in 1995 to 2006, the NFS had tracked more than 3000 offenders. -
Johnson Aziga
Johnson Aziga was born in 1956, he is the first known Canadian to be labeled under the dangerous offender act for spreading the HIV virus to 11 women. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1996, and he was arrested in 2003. He was convicted as a dangerous offender because he posed a high-risk to other women who could contract the killing virus. -
Bill C-55
Changed the parole period from 3 to 7 years. It also introduced long-term offender, which included individuals who were not considered dangerous offenders but still posed a significant risk to themself and those around them. -
Bill C-2
"Tackling Violent Crime Act" established that any individual who commited 3 crimes, each with a 2 year sentence; is deemed a dangerous offender. Also it changed the law that the Crown Attorney's job is not to prove that the offender is dangerous, but the offender's job to prove that he/she is not.