TAMI COGAN
Every Friday, TDP is sharing a piece of public legal education in place of our drop-in clinics, which are currently suspended. Today we are pleased to be sharing a recently published paper by TDP former Board President, Tami Cogan, titled “Provincial Regulations and the Disproportional Consequences for the Homeless“.
The paper delves into the discrepancies in sentencing between criminal and regulatory offences, and the disproportionate impacts on homeless and street-involved individuals who receive tickets for regulatory offences under Liquor License Act, the Trespass to Property Act, and the Safe Streets Act.
Tami concludes: “Proportionality of sentencing is turned on its head when minor offences result in more serious long-term consequences, as compared to more serious criminal offence convictions. The end result of convictions must be proportional to the offence, not just to the doors of the courtroom, but in the lived experience of those convicted.”