Perrin: My faith led me away from ‘tough on crime’
Post #545 1000 words; 5 minutes to read By Benjamin Perrin. Benjamin Perrin is a law professor at the University of British Columbia and the author of the bestselling book, Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial, (see earlier...
Read MoreBeing Arrested
Post #244 1100 words; 5 minutes to read. This post is reprinted with permission from Law360 Canada, one of a series on prisoner experience they are publishing. The original link from February 2023 is https://www.law360.ca/ca/articles/1761102. This series of posts recently...
Read MoreEyewitness testimony has many limitations
Post #243 950 words; 4 minutes to read This post was authored by graduate student Michelle Reinink based on work done by Dr Jamal Mansour and colleagues at the University of Lethbridge. Imagine that you are walking late at...
Read MoreFrom the archives: Lifetime Effects of a Criminal Record
Post # 242 800 words; 4 minutes to read Summary: a criminal conviction carries many consequences that can last a lifetime. The idea that a sentence is ever ‘over’ is not consistent with reality. An earlier version of this post...
Read MoreAre more judges key to ending court delays?
Post #241 1000 words; 4 minutes to read Summary: While timely appointment of judges is important, there are good reasons to believe that the delays in criminal courts are not primarily due to lack of judges, despite media reports. ...
Read MoreBroader lessons from the Zameer case
Post #240 900 words; 4 minutes to read Summary: The serious problems revealed in the Zameer case are not rare; they occur every day in Canada’s justice system but usually do not get noticed. The acquittal recently in Toronto of...
Read MoreEffective treatment for people committing sex offences
Post #239 800 words; 4 minutes to read Summary: Current practices on responding to sex offences would do more to reduce recidivism if they were more consistent with the available evidence . Sex offenders are probably the most reviled...
Read MoreHow can we help young men stay out of jail?
Post #238 900 words; 4 minutes to read Summary: A study of 1600 young men in Quebec shows that imprisonment can badly interfere with normal life development, leading to increased recidvism. A very high proportion of the people in...
Read MoreThere is a problem with bail, but it’s not what we are being told
Post #237 1300 words; 5 minutes to read A report from the CCLA shows that the public and media conversation on bail is entirely inconsistent with the research evidence, which is that bail is too hard to get, with dire...
Read MoreTough on crime is the wrong approach
Post #236 920 words; 4 minutes to read Summary: Tough on crime may make good politics but it’s bad policy. One reason is that most people have committed a crime at some point in their lives, making it impossible to...
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