In this guide, you will find information, resources and links about sentencing law in criminal cases. This includes some of the following subjects:
- Principles
- Quantums (the range and types of sentences for offences)
- Sentencing in youth criminal justice & young offenders
- Sentencing for controlled drugs and substances
- Sentencing weapons offences
For further information on other areas of criminal law, check out our research guides on:
- Criminal Law – Drug Offences
- Criminal Law – Impaired Driving
- Criminal Law – Youth
- Criminal Procedure
Texts
- Annual review of criminal law (available online) Table of Contents
- Criminal Law: evidence, practice and procedure (available online) by John L. Gibson Table of Contents
Chapter 54 provides commentary on procedural aspects of sentencing proceedings. - Criminal pleadings and practice in Canada (available online), 3rd ed. by Eugene G. Ewaschuk Table of Contents
- Guide to conducting sentencing hearings in Canada by Gregory Koturbash Table of Contents
- Handling summary conviction offences by the Hon. Justice Rick Libman Table of Contents
- Sentence calculation : an example of the basics of sentence calculation with examples (available online) by Government of Canada. Table of Contents
- Sentencing, 10th ed. by Clayton C. Ruby Table of Contents
- Sentencing and penal policy in Canada : cases, materials and commentary, 4th ed. by Allan Manson, Julian Roberts & Gary Trotter et al… Table of Contents
- Sentencing in Canada : essays in law, policy, and practice (available online) by David Cole & Julian Roberts Table of Contents.
- Sentencing : principles and practice (available online), 2nd by Danielle Robitaille & Erin Winocur Table of Contents.
- Sentencing : practical approaches by T.W. Ferris. Table of Contents
- Sentencing principles procedure and practice, 2024, 4th ed. by Lyndon Harris & Sebastian Walker Table of Contents
- Sentencing ranges for criminal offences by Clayton Ruby & Shelia Nemet-Brown Table of Contents
- Speaking to sentence : a practical guide by Gilles Renaud Table of Contents
Last revised Sept. 5, 2024
- Canadian sentencing digest : quantum service (available online) by R. Paul Nadin-Davis & Clarey Sproule Table of Contents
- Rangefindr.ca – E-Resource used to find criminal sentencing ranges
- Martin’s annual criminal code (available online) by J.C. Martin Table of Contents Includes an Offence Grid which visually shows whether an offence is indictable, summary or hybrid, maximum/minimum sentences, available sentencing options, and illegal sentences.
Last revised Sept. 5, 2024
- Prosecuting and defending youth criminal justice cases, (available online) 3rd ed. by Justice Brock Jones et al Table of Contents
- Youth criminal justice law, (available online) 3rd ed. by Nicholas Bala & Sanjeev Anand Table of Contents
- Also available online
Last revised Sept. 5, 2024
- Drug offences in Canada, (available online) 4th ed. by Bruce A. MacFarlane, Robert J. Frater & Croft Michaelson Table of Contents
- Prosecuting and defending drug offences, 2nd ed. by Peter M. Brauti & Brian G. Puddington Table of Contents
- Prosecuting and defending drug cases, (available online) 2nd ed. by Nathan Gorham et al. Table of Contents
- Sentencing drug offenders (available online) by Simon Armstrong Table of Contents
Last revised Sept. 5, 2024
- Weapons offences manual (available online) by Peter Harris & Miriam Bloomenfeld Table of Contents
Last revised Sept. 5, 2024
- Breathalyzer law in Canada: the prosecution and defence of drinking and driving offences (available online) 5th ed. by Roderick McLeod, John Takach, Murray Segal Table of Contents
- Defending drinking, drugs and driving cases by Alan Gold Table of Contents
- Drug-impaired driving in Canada (available online) by Nathan Baker Table of Contents
- Impaired driving in Canada, 6th ed. by Joseph F. Kenkel Table of Contents
- Impaired driving in Canada the charter cases, 5th ed. by Justice Joseph F. Kenkel Table of Contents
- Impaired driving and other Criminal Code driving offences (available online) 2nd ed. by Karen Jokinen, Peter Keen Table of Contents
Last revised April 30, 2025
Case Law
For more information on finding cases see our research guide: Finding and researching cases
- ICLR
- LexisAdvance® Quicklaw®
- Rangfindr – electronic source for criminal sentencing ranges
- vLex Justis
- Westlaw Edge
A collection of the judgments of the Alberta Courts is available from CanLII. The official version of the reasons for judgment is the signed original or handwritten endorsement in the court file. If there is a question about the content of a judgment, the original court file takes precedence.
The Canadian abridgment available on: Westlaw Edge
All Canadian summaries, Canadian case summaries and Canada digest are available on: LexisAdvance® Quicklaw®
Legislation
Federal
- Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, SC 1996, c 19
- Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46
- Firearms Act, SC 1995, c 39
- Youth Criminal Justice Act, SC 2002, c 1
Federal Acts and Regulations can be found electronically at:
Encyclopedias
Canadian encyclopedic digest (C.E.D.) (Western), 4th ed.
Sections related to Sentencing include:
- Sentencing.
- Youth Criminal Justice.
The CED provides discussion of these areas of law with annotations to legislation and case law. Additional information may be found by searching the indexes or database using the keywords “Sentence”, “Sentencing”, “Offence”, “Imprisonment’, “Fines”, “Probation”, “Suspended” and “Alternative measures”.
Also available online through: Westlaw Edge
Halsbury’s laws of Canada is a multi-volume set which includes coverage of Federal, Provincial & Territorial legislation. Also available online through: LexisAdvance® Quicklaw®
Titles related to Sentencing include:
- Controlled Drugs and Cannabis (HDS)
- Criminal Procedure (HC2)
- Firearms, Weapons and Explosives (HFW)
- Youth Justice (HYJ)
Additional information may be found under other topical headings.
Journals
- Canadian criminal law review (Can Crim L Rev) / Revue canadienne de droit pénal (RCDP)(available online)
- Criminal law quarterly (Crim LQ) (available online)
- For the defence (available online) Criminal Lawyers’ Association Newsletter
Indexes
- The Canadian abridgment : index to Canadian legal literature (ICLL) (available online)
- Current index to legal periodicals (CILP) (available online)
Additional full-text articles are available electronically through:
- Canlii – commentary – contains books, articles and reports.
- HeinOnline – provides full-text access to Canadian and international law reviews and legal journals.
- Lexis Advance® Quicklaw®
- vLex Justis
- Westlaw Edge – contains a collection of Canadian journals and law reviews, as well as all articles and case comments appearing in Carswell law reports.
For more information on looking for journal articles see our research guide Finding journal articles, conference materials & theses
Websites
Alberta
- Guilty pleas and sentencing 2020 Student Legal Services of Edmonton
- Guide to sentencing resources, May 2007. Legislative Assembly of Alberta
National
Disclaimer: As law librarians, we are pleased to provide you this resource for information and research purposes only – It is not a substitute for professional legal advice. We strive to bring you quality and current information in this resource, but we make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, accessibility, adequacy, or completeness of the information presented here. The sources featured are selected based on professional assessment and opinion, and do not constitute an endorsement, editorial, review, or guarantee.