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

Criminal confinement is when someone forces another person to stay somewhere against their will. It is a serious crime. The law states that it is illegal to confine, imprison, or forcibly seize another person without lawful authority.

Criminal confinement and kidnapping are different offences. Kidnapping involves the moving of a person, while confinement is forcing another person to stay somewhere.

All kidnappings are confinements, but not all confinements are kidnapping. Kidnapping is considered an aggravated form of unlawful confinement.

Criminal confinement is what is called a “hybrid offence.”

  • This means the Crown prosecutor can choose to treat it as either a summary offence (less serious) or an indictable offence (more serious), depending on the circumstances.
  • If prosecuted as an indictable offence, a person convicted of criminal confinement can face up to 10 years in prison.
  • If treated as a summary offence, the punishment can include up to two years in jail, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

The seriousness of the punishment will depend on factors like how long the person was confined, whether weapons were used, if the victim was hurt, and the offender’s criminal history.

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 criminal confinement 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

  • Criminal confinement means illegally holding someone against their will.
  • This is a serious hybrid offence that can be prosecuted as either summary or indictable.
  • If charged as an indictable offence, one could face up to 10 years in prison.
  • As a summary offence, penalties include up to 2 years in jail and/or fines up to $5,000.
  • Bail conditions typically include no contact with the alleged victim and possibly travel restrictions.
  • An accused may need to report regularly to authorities while on bail.
  • These charges can be successfully fought with a proper legal defence.
  • Possible defences include consent, lack of evidence, or lawful authority to detain.

How Our Lawyers Help With a Criminal Confinement Charge

A Strategic Criminal Defence lawyer can be very helpful when you are facing these serious charges. 

  • Before you are charged, our team will tell you what your rights are and help you avoid providing unnecessary statements to police.
  • Our lawyers can make sure your rights are protected by police during the investigation process by acting as a buffer. We can spot proof that could support your side of the story. Such as, security camera footage that could help prove a defence.
  • If needed, we can also find expert witnesses who can testify about the psychological aspects of confinement.
  • Most importantly, our lawyers know how to talk to and negotiate with prosecutors in the court system to find the best possible outcome for your situation.
  • During trial we fiercely defend our clients by questioning the prosecution’s evidence and making arguments about topics in criminal confinement cases, like reasonable doubt, consent, and/or lawful authority.

Examples of Criminal Confinement Charges

In Calgary, you could be charged with criminal confinement for the following situations:

  • Lawful detention: A store security guard keeps a person they think is stealing in a back office for hours without calling the police. This is too long to investigate the situation, which could turn a potentially lawful detention at first, into illegal confinement.
  • Shared spaces: One roommate locks the door during a fight and won’t let the other roommate leave the apartment they share for a whole day and threaten to hurt the roommate if they try to leave.
  • Trespassing: Instead of calling the police or a teens’ parents after finding them trespassing, a homeowner locks them in a shed for a few hours to “teach them a lesson.”

Consequences of a Criminal Confinement Charge

If you are found guilty of criminal confinement in Canada, you could face serious consequences that could change your life forever.

  • Criminal confinement is a hybrid crime. This means that the Crown prosecutor can decide to treat it as a summary offence (less serious) or an indictable offence (more serious), depending on the specifics of the case.
  • There is no set amount of time that a person must spend in jail for an indictable criminal confinement offence. However, the longest sentence is severe: you could spend up to ten years in jail.
  •  Judges will consider if the person was violent, if they have a criminal record, and their personal circumstances when deciding on a sentence.
  • If treated as a summary offence, the longest sentence is two years, with no minimum jail time. The court can also fine you up to $5,000 in addition or instead of jail time.
  • A conviction also leaves you with a criminal record, which can make it harder to find a job, travel, and find a place to live.
  • Some schools might not admit people with this kind of conviction, and you could lose a professional licence needed for your employment.
  • If you’re not a citizen of Canada and you are found guilty of this crime, your immigration status could change. Depending on the details of your sentence, you might face deportation.

Criminal Confinement Charge Defences

If someone accuses you of criminal confinement, you have the right to defend yourself. If you have a strong defence, you might be able to get your case thrown out or your charges dropped. A lawyer from our firm can help you determine which of these defences might apply to your situation.

Here are some defences that might apply in different situations:

  • Consent: If the complainant agreed to the situation fully, this can be a full defence against charges of criminal confinement. For example, if two friends were playing a game that was consented to and involved temporary confinement that they agreed to, this would not constitute criminal confinement. The prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person did not want to be engaging in the confinement.
  • Authority: Some people have the right to confine other people in specific situations. For instance, the police can legally hold suspects for a reasonable amount of time while they investigate. Security guards can also keep people they think are stealing from a store until the police arrive. For this defence, you would have to show that you had the right to confine the person and that you did everything within your lawful authority.
  • Necessary Actions: If it was necessary to keep someone confined to stop more harm, this can be a defence. For instance, this could be stopping someone who was having a mental health episode from further harming themselves and/or bystanders. This could be done by confining them until the police arrived to take over. For this defence to apply, the courts would need to decide these were reasonable choices. They would also need to accept that there was a severe and immediate risk of harm at the time to justify these actions.

Criminal Confinement Charge Investigation

  • First, the police talk to the victim in detail about where and how long they were held, how they were kept there, and whether threats or force were used. The police also talk to people who might have seen the victim being held.
  • Then, the investigators go to the place where the supposed confinement took place. They look for signs of a fight, broken locks, or restraints. They might get fingerprints, DNA samples, or other forensic evidence from the crime scene.
  • Electronic evidence is also very important. The police look at video from security cameras that might show the victim going into a building but not being able to leave. They also look at the text messages, phone calls, and social media messages that the accused and the victim sent to each other.
  • The police document all statements made by any suspects. Investigators might also look into the accused person’s past to see if they have done something like this before or had a difficult relationship with the victim before.

Bail Conditions for Criminal Confinement Charges

If you are charged with criminal confinement in Canada, you may be able to get out on bail until your trial, but you have to follow strict rules.

  • The judge will probably tell you not to talk to the who you held against their will. You can’t call them, text them, email them, or have someone else do it for you. You will need to find a new place to stay if you lived with the person.
  • You will also be told to stay a certain distance away from the victim’s home, school, or job. The court might also tell you not to go to the place where the alleged confinement took place.
  • The court often makes you check in with a bail supervisor or police station on a regular basis. This tells the police where you are while your case is ongoing.
  • If you were threatening or had weapons with you, you might be put under house arrest or made to wear an electronic monitoring device. The court might also take away your weapons or any tools that could be used to confine someone.
  • If you break any of your bail conditions, you could get new criminal charges and have to go back to jail right away.

For more information, visit our page on The Bail Hearing Process in Calgary.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you stop someone from leaving a place without the law’s permission, you are committing criminal confinement. You don’t have specifically put someone in a room and lock them in. There are many things that could lead to these charges, such as blocking doorways, taking someone’s car keys so they can’t leave, or threatening them if they try to leave. The most important thing is that you are not letting someone else move around freely against their will.

You can be charged, but you might have a good reason for doing so. You might be able to use the necessity defence if you confined someone for a short time to keep them safe. However, the confinement should be as short as possible, only to keep the harm from happening. It should also end as soon as the danger is over.

If you are found guilty of a crime and sent to jail, it can have a big effect on your job and your ability to travel. A lot of employers do background checks, and if you have a confinement charge, they might not trust you or think you could be responsible, especially if you’re applying for a job that involves working with vulnerable people or security. Some professional licences and certifications require people to have good character, and these charges could hurt your application. It can also be very hard to travel if you have a criminal record.