What Happens After You’re Charged With a Criminal Offence?
Understanding the first steps after a criminal charge in Ontario can help you protect your rights and prepare for what comes next.
What happens after a criminal charge is laid in Ontario?
Understand your release conditions
After an arrest, you may be released by police on an undertaking or brought before a justice for a bail hearing. If you are released, the document you receive can contain conditions governing where you may go, who you may contact, where you must live, or other restrictions that apply while the case is ongoing.
Read those conditions carefully and keep a copy accessible. They remain legally binding unless they expire or are formally changed. Even where another person agrees to contact or meet with you, doing so may still create a separate allegation if your release terms prohibit it. If a condition creates a serious problem involving your home, work, children, or other responsibilities, legal advice can help determine whether a variation can be requested.
Get and review your disclosure
Disclosure is the evidence the prosecution has about your case. Depending on the charge, it may include police notes, witness statements, photographs, surveillance footage, audio or video recordings, forensic reports, financial records, and the formal Information setting out the charges.
Receiving disclosure is an important early step because a charge is only an allegation. The evidence must be examined before meaningful decisions can be made about how the case should proceed. Disclosure can also arrive in stages, so an initial package may not contain everything ultimately relied upon. A criminal defence lawyer can review the material for inconsistencies, missing evidence, Charter issues, evidentiary weaknesses, and information that may support the defence.
Prepare for your first court date
Your release documents should identify when and where your next court appearance is scheduled. For many criminal matters in the Ontario Court of Justice, early appearances take place in case management court while disclosure is obtained, counsel is retained, and the parties determine how the case will move forward.
The first appearance is generally not a trial and you are not expected to prove your innocence that day. It is part of the process of moving the case toward resolution, further discussions, or trial where necessary. Before that date, confirm how you are required to attend, preserve any evidence that may help your defence, avoid discussing the allegation publicly or on social media, and obtain legal advice about the charge and your next steps.
