Article 15: The Judiciary and Public Safety

The sole purpose of courts is to punish the guilty and protect the innocent.

1.     Every accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt by an impartial jury of their peers. No person shall be compelled to testify against himself, nor deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

2.     Mandatory minimum sentences shall apply to all violent crimes except child trafficking, child sexual abuse, and possession of child sexual abuse material. For these offences the death penalty by firing squad applies as provided in Article 5 and this Article.

3.     No person convicted of the above offences may ever be released before serving the full term.

4.     The judiciary is independent.
      a)     Supreme-court judges are appointed by the Prime Minister from a shortlist of three candidates per vacancy proposed by a non-partisan Judicial Appointments Commission composed of five senior judges, three citizens chosen by lot from the National Registry of Citizens, and two members of the House chosen by lot. Judges serve until mandatory retirement at age 60 and may be removed only by a two-thirds vote of the House for proven misbehaviour or incapacity.
      b)     Appointments to the superior courts of each province remain within provincial jurisdiction. Each province must establish a non-partisan Judicial Appointments Commission for these appointments, structured to mirror the federal commission in composition and function: five senior provincial judges, three citizens selected by lot from the provincial electorate from the National Registry of Citizens, and two members of the provincial legislature selected by lot. For each vacancy, the commission shall propose a shortlist of three qualified candidates ranked by merit. The provincial premier shall appoint one from this shortlist. Provincial superior court judges serve until mandatory retirement at age 60. Removal occurs only by a two-thirds vote of the provincial legislature for proven misbehaviour or incapacity.
      c)     Members of the Judicial Appointments Commissions, whether federal or provincial, who serve in their capacity as senior judges or as members of the House or provincial legislature, receive no additional compensation beyond their existing salaries. Citizen members selected by lot receive full reimbursement of any wages lost during the period of service, plus a daily honorarium equal to twice the national median daily wage. Each commission convenes only for the time required to evaluate candidates and produce the mandated shortlist for the vacancy or vacancies under consideration, never to exceed four weeks.

5.     Judicial and Official Liability for Enabling Recidivism
      a)     Purpose The Republic recognises that the premature or inadequate restoration of liberty to a violent or designated high-harm offender is among the gravest betrayals of public trust. Officials who order, approve, or facilitate such liberty share criminal responsibility when predictable further harm follows.
      b)     Covered Decision-Makers This section applies to every judge, justice of the peace, parole or release-board member, prosecutor, corrections official, or other person acting under colour of law who orders, recommends, approves, or materially facilitates any Covered Liberty Decision under subsection (c).
      c)     Covered Liberty Decisions A Covered Liberty Decision is any of the following concerning a person charged with, or convicted of, a violent offence, or a Designated High-Harm Offence as defined in subsection (l):
            i)     early release, parole, temporary absence, day pass, or any form of release before the full term required by this Article or by mandatory minimum sentence;
            ii)     bail, judicial interim release, release pending appeal, or stay of proceedings that returns the person to the community when this Constitution or ordinary law required detention;
            iii)     house arrest, electronic monitoring, or any community-based substitute for custodial detention that functions as de facto release from secure custody;
            iv)     a sentence below the mandatory minimum applicable under section 2, or any sentence or disposition that violates section 3 or section 8(d); or
            v)     any order that knowingly or recklessly frustrates the full service of a lawful custodial sentence.
      d)     Manifestly Inadequate Sentence A sentence or disposition is “manifestly inadequate” when it:
            i)     falls below a mandatory minimum under section 2;
            ii)     permits release before full term contrary to section 3;
            iii)     permits release while any reasonable doubt about public safety remains, contrary to section 8(d); or
            iv)     is so disproportionate to the gravity of a violent or Designated High-Harm Offence that no reasonable decision-maker acting in good faith under this Constitution could have imposed it.
      e)     Predicate Subsequent Offence Liability under this section is triggered when a person who was the subject of a Covered Liberty Decision or manifestly inadequate sentence later commits, or is lawfully charged with and subsequently convicted of, a violent offence or a Designated High-Harm Offence committed after that decision (the “Subsequent Offence”). Where the principal dies or is otherwise unavailable for trial, the Subsequent Offence may be proved beyond reasonable doubt in the proceedings against the Covered Decision-Maker alone.
      f)     Mens Rea Criminal liability under this section requires that the Covered Decision-Maker acted:
            i)     knowing that the decision violated this Article or a mandatory minimum;
            ii)     with wilful blindness to such violation; or
            iii)     recklessly, in conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the decision violated sections 2, 3, or 8(d), or that the person posed a continuing danger to the public. Honest error after documented full compliance with sections 2, 3, and 8(d) and with all mandatory findings required by law is not a criminal offence under this section, but remains subject to removal for misbehaviour or incapacity under section 4 and to civil liability where negligence is proven.
      g)     Immediate Suspension upon Rearrest When a person who was the subject of a Covered Liberty Decision or manifestly inadequate sentence is arrested and charged with a Subsequent Offence that is violent or Designated High-Harm:
            i)     every Covered Decision-Maker who ordered, approved, or materially facilitated that prior decision shall be immediately suspended from all judicial, prosecutorial, parole, or related official duties, without pay beyond a subsistence stipend not exceeding the national median wage pro-rated, pending investigation under this section;
            ii)     suspension is automatic by operation of law upon certification by the prosecuting authority or by a single senior judge chosen by lot that the prior decision falls within subsection (c) or (d) on a prima facie basis;
            iii)     suspension does not determine guilt; the suspended person retains the presumption of innocence under section 1 for purposes of criminal trial under this section; and
            iv)     if the Subsequent Offence charge is dismissed on the merits, withdrawn for lack of evidence, or ends in acquittal, and no separate probable cause remains that the prior decision was criminal under subsection (f), suspension terminates and full back pay is restored.
      h)     Criminal Offence and Penalty A Covered Decision-Maker who, with the mens rea required by subsection (f), made or facilitated a Covered Liberty Decision or imposed a manifestly inadequate sentence, after which a Subsequent Offence is committed, shall be prosecuted as an accessory before the fact to the Subsequent Offence (or under an equivalent statutory offence of reckless judicial endangerment of the public) and, upon conviction by jury beyond reasonable doubt:
            i)     shall be imprisoned for a term not less than the term imposed for the Subsequent Offence (or, where that offence carries death or life without parole, for life without parole, or death if accessory liability for that offence so provides under ordinary law consistent with this Article);
            ii)     shall serve that sentence in the same custody classification and the same class of secure facility as the principal offender for the Subsequent Offence, so far as security and the protection of life permit; nothing in this subsection requires or permits forced co-detention in the same cell or unit where that placement would create a substantial risk of murder, hostage-taking, or coercion;
            iii)     shall be permanently disqualified from every public office, judicial appointment, prosecutorial post, parole function, and the practice of law within the Republic;
            iv)     shall be jointly and severally liable, personally, for treble the proven damages of every victim of the Subsequent Offence, including medical costs, lost earnings, property loss, and non-pecuniary harm as determined by a jury, which liability is not dischargeable and may be satisfied from personal assets, pensions, and future earnings; and
            v)     where the Subsequent Offence is one for which section 6 restores capital punishment and the Covered Decision-Maker acted knowingly or with wilful blindness, shall be eligible for the same maximum penalty as an accessory under the law applicable to that offence.
            i)     Victim Standing and Compulsory Process
            i)     Any victim of the Subsequent Offence, or the next of kin of a deceased victim, may file a sworn complaint with the Supreme Court or a superior court demanding investigation and prosecution under this section.
            ii)     Upon a complaint supported by prima facie evidence of a Covered Liberty Decision or manifestly inadequate sentence and a Subsequent Offence, the court shall order an independent prosecutor (who shall not be the office that participated in the original liberty decision) to investigate and, if evidence warrants, to charge within sixty days, or to file public written reasons for declining, which reasons are themselves subject to review by a three-judge panel drawn by lot.
            iii)     No minister, attorney-general, or official may stay, suspend, or quietly terminate a prosecution under this section except by written public reasons reviewable under the same three-judge procedure.
            iv)     Malicious false complaints under this subsection are punished under the false-accusation rules of section 6 and Article 14, as applicable.
      j)     Parole Boards and Collective Decisions. Where a Covered Liberty Decision was made by a multi-member board, every member who voted in favour is a Covered Decision-Maker. Members who voted against and recorded a dissent in writing are not liable under this section for that decision.
      k)     Designated High-Harm Offences. For greater certainty, Designated High-Harm Offences shall include at least: trafficking in fentanyl or equivalent lethal substances; home invasion; sexual offences; robbery with a weapon; arson endangering life; and any offence involving intentional or reckless infliction of grievous bodily harm. The House may expand this list by ordinary law; it may not narrow the violent-offence core of this section.
      l)     Non-Derogation. Nothing in this section diminishes mandatory minimums, full-term service, or the public-safety rule in sections 2, 3, and 8; authorises any emergency or administrative power to restore the liberty of a violent offender contrary to those sections; or limits civil actions by victims against the Republic for systemic failure, subject to ordinary law and the fiscal limits of Article 20.

6.     The death penalty is restored for premeditated murder, child rape, child trafficking, child sexual abuse, possession of child sexual abuse material, rape, high treason, and for extreme, provably intentional financial, medical, religious, scientific or any other fraud that directly causes widespread death or irreversible ruin, and for intentional arson that causes death, endangers human life, or destroys or gravely damages dwellings, a community, critical infrastructure, or a substantial area of forest or wildland, upon unanimous jury verdict beyond reasonable doubt. Any person who makes a false accusation of any of these offences with premeditated intent to deceive or to cause harm shall, upon unanimous jury verdict proving that intent beyond reasonable doubt, suffer the exact same penalty that would have applied to the accused.

7.     All executions shall be carried out solely by firing squad with hand-held lethal arms within seven days of final sentencing. For convictions of child trafficking, child sexual abuse, or possession of child sexual abuse material, the timeline is mandatory and non-extendable.

8.     The criminal justice system of the Republic exists first to protect the innocent and second to restore the offender to lawful life wherever this is compatible with public safety.
      a)     Every person sentenced to imprisonment shall be offered intensive, evidence-based rehabilitation programmes (psychological, educational, vocational, moral, and, where appropriate, medical or pharmacological) chosen solely for proven efficacy in reducing recidivism. The state has a constitutional duty to research, develop, and implement the most effective methods available, without ideological preference or prohibition.
      b)     For offenders convicted of premeditated murder, child rape, or high treason, rehabilitation may be attempted only under the strictest conditions of permanent physical isolation from the general population and from any position of trust or authority.
      c)     The death penalty or irrevocable life imprisonment without parole remains mandatory when a special Rehabilitation Review Board (composed of three senior judges, three forensic psychologists, and three citizen members chosen by lot) unanimously determines, after no fewer than seven years of observed behaviour and treatment, that the offender remains an incurable danger to human life. Such determination must be reviewed and reaffirmed every five years thereafter.
      d)     No offender may ever be released if there exists any reasonable doubt about public safety. The protection of the innocent is the supreme law.

9.     Swift Justice for Child Crimes
      a)     Any person arrested for child trafficking, child sexual abuse, or possession of child sexual abuse material on substantial evidence shall be denied bail and held in solitary confinement pending trial.
      b)     Trial shall begin no later than thirty days after arrest and conclude no later than sixty days after arrest.
      c)     The proceedings shall be public, adversarial, and conducted before a jury of twelve citizens chosen by blind lot. Conviction requires a unanimous verdict.
      d)     Upon conviction, sentencing and execution by firing squad shall occur within seven days. No appeals shall stay the execution beyond the seven-day period except by unanimous order of the full Supreme Court on grounds of newly discovered irrefutable exculpatory evidence.

10.     No administrative tribunal, human rights commission, equity or inclusion board, diversity enforcement body, or any similar quasi-judicial or regulatory entity shall be created or maintained at the national, provincial, municipal, or any other level of government. All disputes involving alleged discrimination, expression, conscience, association, employment practices, housing, or public accommodations shall be adjudicated exclusively in the regular courts established under this Article, subject to the full protections of presumption of innocence, jury trial where applicable, and proof beyond reasonable doubt for any penalty or restriction.

Any pre-existing human rights codes, tribunals, commissions, or equivalent bodies are hereby dissolved. Their powers are nullified, all pending proceedings terminated, all prior orders and penalties vacated, and their records sealed except for historical archival purposes. No statute, regulation, or policy may recreate or replicate their functions under any name or justification.