Federal law expands first-degree murder charge in intimate-partner killings
Bill C-225 received royal assent Wednesday, allowing prosecutors to charge first-degree murder for intimate-partner killings even without premeditation when there's a pattern of coercive control.
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The Criminal Code will soon be updated to expand when prosecutors can charge first-degree murder in intimate-partner killings.
Bill C-225 received royal assent in Parliament on Wednesday, June 17, amending the Criminal Code to make first-degree murder applicable to killings that happen as part of a pattern of coercive or controlling conduct. The law also creates a specific offence for intimate-partner violence in Canada's justice system.
Conservative MP Frank Caputo put forward the private member's bill, a type of legislation that rarely passes into law. The legislation is named Bailey's Law after Bailey McCourt, a 32-year-old B.C. woman who was killed last year. Her alleged killer was a former partner who was released on bail hours before the daylight attack in a Kelowna parking lot.