Courts & Parole

#14 Jarrod Bacon released by mistake

Convicted cocaine trafficker Jarrod Bacon has won an appeal of his 2017 parole revocation by arguing that he never should have been released in the first place. The lawyer argued that the Parole Board of Canada had miscalculated Bacon’s statutory release date, letting him out 16 months too early. Bacon got out in February 2017, and was ordered to live in a halfway house, not associate with criminals, and stay out of drinking establishments. Then last September, the parole board revoked his parole for violating those conditions after he was caught drinking in a strip club with another known criminal and then providing police with a false identity. In my opinion, Jarrod Bacon being released was the Parole Board’s fault. Even though a criminal is supposed to be let out after serving two thirds of their sentence, they have to prove they are and have been good in prison. The recidivism of Jarrod Bacon is very high due to him being a convicted gang member and he also proved that he could not be trusted by violating his parole.

#15 Court rejects Quebec’s bid to ban citizens’ access to private online gaming sites

The Quebec Superior Court has rejected the province’s attempt to ban its citizens’ access to online gaming sites unauthorized by the government’s gambling corporation. I believe this ruling was correct because people should have the freedom to watch something as simple as a gaming site. Taking this privilege away would pretty much be infringing someone’s rights and for no reason either. If private online gaming sites were to be banned, then many other websites should be banned as well due to the greater risks they involve. Just because they are unauthorized by the government’s gambling corporation, it doesn’t mean they should be banned.

What I learned:

From what I discovered, I learned that the Canadian court system and parole board is very structured yet malleable. There are many grey areas within law and lawyers tend to use these in order to win. For example Jarrod Bacon violated his parole however his lawyers were able to win by arguing that the Parole Board of Canada had miscalculated Bacon’s statutory release date, letting him out 16 months too early. The Canadian courts are very just in my opinion. In the second article I read, I believe the Quebec Superior Court was correct in their ruling. By rejecting the province’s attempt to ban its citizens’ access to online gaming sites unauthorized by the government’s gambling corporation, the Quebec Superior Court denied part of our freedoms to be taken away.