Legal Studies 3080

The Three Types of Offences


Under Canadian criminal law, offences are divided up into three categories:

  • summary conviction offence
    a relatively minor criminal offence
    Summary Conviction Offences are the least serious offences.  
  • Hybrid offences are crimes that fall in between - crimes that are in some situations minor (such as the theft of a few dollars) and in some situations very serious (such as the theft of large amounts of money). 
  • Indictable Offences are criminal acts - e.g. break and enter,  assault, murder.  

Whether an offence is classified as indictable, summary conviction or hybrid is important in determining how the police can deal with suspects. And, as you will learn later in this section, an offence's classification also determines how an accused person will be tried and how a convicted person will be punished. In this lesson, however, what is important is how these classifications affect the role of the police.