If you are facing criminal charges, you need a criminal defence lawyer in Calgary to look at your case as soon as possible.

A conditional sentence order (CSO) is a type of punishment where someone who has been found guilty of a crime serves their sentence in the community instead of going to jail.

A conditional sentence order can be 2 years maximum in length and be joined with strict conditions that the person must follow. Such as obeying a curfew, staying away from certain places or people, not using alcohol or drugs, and checking in regularly with a supervisor.

If someone breaks the rules of their conditional sentence, they might have to serve the rest of their time in jail.

Conditional sentences are different from probation, although both allow people to serve their sentences in the community under supervision.

Strategic Criminal Defence is a top Google-rated criminal defence firm in Calgary, with over 500 5-star reviews. Our firm, and our experienced legal team, have defended clients in over 10,000 criminal cases. Leveraging our extensive network of lawyers and decades of experience, we craft defence strategies to help those accused of a criminal offence beat the charge.

The lawyers at Strategic Criminal Defence are both highly experienced and dedicated to defending your rights and future in the face of these charges. Contact a  lawyer today by calling (403) 719-6410.

Key Takeaways

  • A conditional sentence order (CSO) lets you serve your time in the community instead of prison if you follow certain rules.
  • You can only get a CSO for crimes that would put you in jail for less than two years and don’t have a set minimum time that you have to serve.
  • The courts take it very seriously when you break the conditions of a CSO. The most common punishment is to go to jail until your sentence is over.
  • If you break a CSO, you don’t get a new criminal charge like you do if you break probation. Instead, it leads to a hearing under Section 742.6 of the Criminal Code.

How Our Lawyers Help With Conditional Sentence Orders

From the very beginning, our lawyers can provide effective legal advice and advocacy so that your case, when eligible, can result in a conditional sentence order instead of time in jail. 

  • We can help you talk to the police or investigators and make sure you don’t say anything that could hurt your case.
  • Our lawyers will do everything they can to find evidence that backs up your side of the story.
  • We can also get expert witnesses to help your case. We know how Alberta’s complicated criminal justice system and court procedures work and can use that for your favour.
  • Most importantly, our lawyers will be with you during your trial and will fight for a conditional sentence instead of jail time when it makes sense.
  • If there are any issues afterward, including breaches of the conditions attached, we can continue to assist you effectively.

Examples of Conditional Sentence Orders

Here are some examples of what a conditional sentence order might look like in Canada:

  • A woman was convicted of fraud under $5,000. Instead of going to jail, she received a conditional sentence of 12 months. She must stay at her home between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. every day, attend financial counselling, complete 100 hours of community service, and pay back the money she took.
  • A man was found guilty of dangerous driving. His conditional sentence requires him to be under house arrest for the first four months, then follow a strict curfew for another eight months. He cannot drive any vehicle during this time and must attend a driver rehabilitation program.
  • A student received a conditional sentence for drug possession. He must stay at home except for work hours, medical appointments, and one four-hour period each week for personal errands. He also must attend addiction counselling and submit to random drug testing.

Consequences of Breaching a Conditional Sentence Order

If you break a conditional sentence order, the consequences are much worse than for other types of probation violations.

Breaching a conditional sentence isn’t really a new crime in a legal sense. Instead, it starts a special hearing process under Section 742.6 of the Criminal Code, where a judge decides what to do with your original sentence.

This is because you are already serving your time, but in the community instead of jail.

The most common punishment for breaking a CSO is going to jail to serve some or all of your remaining sentence there. If the judge thinks you breached your order without a good reason, they can do a few things:

  • Do nothing (this is rare, but it can happen for very small technical violations)
  • Make your optional conditions stricter by changing them.
  • Make it so you will have to spend some time in jail as part of your sentence. After that, you may be able to serve your conditional sentence in the community again, but the rules might be stricter this time.
  • Without any conditions, you could have to serve the rest of your sentence in jail.

The judge will decide what to do based on how severe the breach was, whether it was your first time, how well you’ve followed the rules in the past, and anything else you say.

Common Conditional Sentence Order Conditions

People who get a conditional sentence from a judge have to follow certain rules while they are serving their time in the community.

There are some basic conditions that most conditional sentences usually include.

  • The person should be of good behaviour and not cause trouble.
  • When they are told to, they have to go to court.
  • They have to check in with their officer frequently.
  • Before they can leave their province, they need to get special permission. T
  • hey also need to tell their conditions officer if they change jobs or move.

Most conditional sentences also say that the person has to stay home or get home by a certain time. People who are under house arrest can only leave their homes for certain reasons, like going to work, school, the doctor, or shopping once a week. They have to be home by a certain time, which is usually at night, when they have a curfew.

If you break these rules, you might have to spend the rest of your sentence in jail.

Frequently Asked Questions

A conditional sentence order and probation may seem the same because they both let you stay in the community instead of going to jail, but they are not.

You can serve a conditional sentence in the community, but it’s really a jail sentence. It’s custody, but not in jail. When a judge thinks you should go to jail but lets you do your time in the community, they give you a conditional sentence. If you break the rules, you might have to spend the rest of your sentence in a real jail.

Probation, on the other hand, is a different kind of sentence that doesn’t put you in jail. It can be given on its own or as part of a jail sentence. Probation is usually less strict than a conditional sentence.

Finally, you can only get conditional sentences for crimes that don’t have a minimum jail term and that would put you in jail for less than two years. There are a lot more situations where probation can be used.

If you break a conditional sentence order, you usually have to stay in jail for the rest of your time. When you break a conditional sentence, the consequences are usually more severe and happen right away. But if you break your probation, you’ll get a new criminal charge that you have to deal with on its own.

It is very hard and not often allowed to leave Canada while you are serving a conditional sentence. Most of the time, conditional sentences say that you have to stay in a certain area, which is usually your province or territory.

You can move while you are serving a conditional sentence, but you must ask for permission first and plan ahead. If you’re under house arrest or have a curfew, your home is like your “cell.” Let your supervisor know as soon as you think you might need to move.