Search resources

Criminal Court Overview

The Ontario Court of Justice’s website provides an overview of criminal court including:

Going to criminal court
How to attend court
Practice directions, notices, and guidelines
Criminal court forms

It also has information about daily court lists, court cases online, and how to find a court and local contacts.

Criminal court: Step-by-step

The Ontario Court of Justice has created a step-by-step guide on a typical criminal case to help people understand each step in criminal court proceedings.

Probono Inmate Appeal Program

Formerly known as the Ontario Inmate Appeal Duty Counsel Program, the Probono Inmate Appeal Program helps self-represented inmates to appeal their conviction or sentence to the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

Going to Criminal Court

The website of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General has information about the criminal court process and what to do if someone is the accused, witness or surety in a criminal case. This includes information on:

If you are charged with a criminal offence
Young people
If you do not have a lawyer
If you are a witness
If you are a surety
Criminal appeals
If you need an interpreter

Youth flowcharts: Criminal court process for youth aged 12-17

This flowchart from the Steps to Justice website explains the youth criminal court process in Ontario.

Youth Flowcharts: When police talk to youth aged 12-17

This flowchart from the Steps to Justice website explains what happens when the police talk to a youth in Ontario.

Are you entitled to a criminal trial in French in Canada?

This resource from CliquezJustice is only available in French (Avez-vous droit à un procès criminel en français au Canada?).

Criminal Court Illustrations: Ontario Court of Justice

This illustration provides information about what people might see in an Ontario Court of Justice criminal law courtroom and who might be present at a hearing. It is available as an interactive web page or printable image.

CLEO Steps to Justice: Criminal court

This Steps to Justice webpage produced by CLEO links to multiple questions and answers about going to criminal court, as well as links to supplementary and referral information. The information is also available in French on CLEO’s Justice pas-à-pas website.

CLEO Steps to Justice: getting legal help in criminal law

This Steps to Justice webpage produced by CLEO links to multiple questions and answers about how to get help with criminal law issues, as well as links to supplementary and referral information. The information is also available in French on CLEO’s Justice pas-à-pas website.