Post #161 This post is about 1060 words; 5 minutes to read Most discussion of criminal sentencing revolves around only one thing – the length of the sentence. A new paper by US law professor Eve Hanan argues (similar to...
Read More960 words; 4 minutes to read The right to a fair trial is perhaps the most central aspect of criminal justice. Yet, as shown in a recent report by Fair Trials, an international organization committed to human rights in criminal...
Read More830 words; 4 minutes to read Our criminal justice system goes back well before the advent of the social sciences and the development of reliable knowledge about human behaviour. But because it is so firmly based on precedents and past...
Read More750 words; about 3 minutes to read Previous posts on this blog have discussed the issue of what counts as a crime. Prof. Melissa Hamilton wrote about how some criminal laws are about whether an action harms another person, but...
Read More630 words; 3 minutes to read The recent release of a new report from the federal Correctional investigator yet again shows the many serious deficiencies in Canada’s prisons, and the indifference of the government to fix these despite many protestations...
Read More700 words; 3 minutes to read. Most of this post is drawn from an article by Dylan Short in the Edmonton Journal on January 26, 2020. ————————– An Edmonton law group is urging Public Safety Canada to pardon all Indigenous...
Read More600 words; 3 minutes to read Those who believe in making major reforms to criminal justice in Canada were heartened a few years ago. The new Liberal government in 2015 made many commitments to address at least some of the...
Read More850 words; 4 minutes to read ‘Providing closure’ is one of the comments we often hear in media coverage of verdicts and sentences in criminal cases. The suggestion is that a harsh sentence provides victims of crime, or family members...
Read More930 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 More950 words; 4 minutes to read Paula Mallea has had a long and distinguished career as a criminal defense lawyer and public policy advocate. Having worked extensively with prisoners, and with Indigenous people in the justice system, she became a...
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