The Hidden Epidemic of False Guilty Pleas
By Caroline Erentzen, York University and colleagues (more information at the end of the post) This post is just under 1000 words and can be read in 4-5 minutes. In the late 1980s, a series of DNA-based exonerations shook the...
Read MoreThe limits of forensic evidence
This post is about 770 words and can be read in 3 minutes. Many of the popular crime dramas on television give prominence to forensic evidence. Corpses are identified and murderers caught through analysis of hair, clothing fibres, fingerprints, bite...
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 MoreParole denied due to claims of innocence
This post is about 1100 words and can be read in about 5 minutes. There are many problems with the way that Canada’s parole system functions. One problem is that being paroled requires a prisoner to admit guilt for the...
Read MoreHow to Have Fewer Wrongful Convictions
This blog is about 1200 words and takes about 5 minutes to read. Canada should make a series of changes to laws and criminal justice procedures in order to prevent more people from being convicted of crimes which they did...
Read More3% Doing Time for Murder Didn’t Do Crime: James Lockyer
Heidi Riedner At least 3 per cent of convicted murderers in prison are innocent, according to one of the country’s most prominent social justice activists. “That’s a lot of people in Canadian prisons for murders they didn’t commit,” lawyer James...
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....
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