More posts worth a second look
580 words; 3 minutes to read Many previous posts on this blog continue to be highly relevant. The problems they addressed remain as prevalent as ever. These posts show how many of the issues in our system are well known...
Read MoreWhy conviction does not always imply guilt
930 words; 4 minutes to read Some people are found guilty of crimes they did not commit, and many more people plead guilty to specific charges that are inaccurate. Yet once someone has pled guilty or been convicted, we seem...
Read MoreMost people can’t afford a proper legal defense
950 words; 4 minutes to read. A fundamental aspect of justice in Canada is that any accused person has the right to make a proper defense. In practice, this right does not exist for most Canadians because they cannot afford...
Read MoreDo prosecutors have too much discretion?
This post is about 750 words and can be read in 3 minutes. More than 90% of criminal charges in Canada never go to trial. They are either dropped by the Crown or the accused pleads guilty to something. This...
Read MoreNew book on Indigenous issues in the Canadian justice system
This post is about 600 words and can be read in 3 minutes. Everyone involved in criminal justice is aware of the dramatic over-representation of Indigenous people in Canada’s criminal justice system and prisons. But despite all the attention,...
Read MorePolicing Black Lives
This post is about 450 words and can be read in 2 minutes. Canadians who follow the news are used to seeing scenes from the United States of black people being shot by police, or wrongfully convicted, or beaten while...
Read MoreCrime rates don’t affect police or prison numbers; minority population does
This post is 500 words and takes about 2 minutes to read. Most of us presume that cities have more police when there is more crime. We also assume that more people in prison is a result of more crime. ...
Read MoreReforming criminal sentencing
In 2016, as part of a general review of criminal justice for the new federal government, the Department of Justice commissioned a set of papers on possible reforms to criminal sentencing in Canada. Five papers were published on the Department’s...
Read MoreRace, Crime and Justice in Canada
We have a lot of data showing that Indigenous and Black people are the subjects of unfair treatment throughout the criminal justice system, from contact with police to sentencing and parole. That evidence is well summarized in a recent (2014)...
Read MoreBryan Stevenson: A Leading Civil Rights Voice
Reflecting on Bryan Stevenson: How a Criminal Lawyer Became the Leading Civil Rights Voice of Our Time by Lisa Kerr The field of criminal justice is often in need of moral leadership. While Bryan Stevenson is focused on the U.S....
Read More