Sentencing a Crime Which Occurs Within a Cluster of Other Crimes


Sentencing does not occur in the abstract.  It is very much an individualized process ultimately involving an assessment of the circumstances of the offence and the individual offender.

The circumstances in which an offence was committed bears on sentence, as these circumstances may affect the gravity of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender.

A sentencing court is entitled to treat the commission of multiple offences at the same time as part as the overall context in which the offences have been committed. And this may increase the seriousness of each offence.

See R. v. Simeunovich, 2019 ONCA 856, at para. 11.

Stuart O’Connell, O’Connell Law Group (All rights reserved to author).

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