| Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms |
|---|
| Part of the Constitution Act, 1982 |
| Preamble |
| Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms |
| 1 |
| Fundamental Freedoms |
| 2 |
| Democratic Rights |
| 3, 4, 5 |
| Mobility Rights |
| 6 |
| Legal Rights |
| 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 |
| Equality Rights |
| 15 |
| Official Languages of Canada |
| 16, 16.1, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 |
| Minority Language Education Rights |
| 23 |
| Enforcement |
| 24 |
| General |
| 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 |
| Application |
| 32, 33 |
| Citation |
| 34 |
Section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as part of the Constitution of Canada, is a legal rights section that protects an individual's freedom from cruel and unusual punishments in Canada. The section has generated some case law, including the essential case R. v. Smith (1987), in which it was partially defined, and R. v. Latimer (2001), a famous case in which Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer protested that his long, mandatory minimum sentence for the murder of his disabled daughter was cruel and unusual.
The section states:
12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.