Law Commons^™

Elder Abuse In Canada: Dimensions And Policy Responses, Taylor Marekovic

Major Papers

Elder abuse and neglect continues to be a gray area when it comes to convicting perpetrators such as family, friends, strangers, and caregivers who commit any form of physical, psychological, financial, neglect, or sexual abuse towards an elder. This is due to the legal definition being vague and non-transparent. The legal and health systems rely on two different definitions of what is deemed to be elder abuse and neglect in Canada when reviewing or assessing allegations of such abuse. Elder abuse and neglect increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Ontario and the rest of Canada experienced staffing shortages in …

Total Pit Bull Shit: Anomie And Breed Specific Legislation In Windsor, Ontario, Lauren Joy Sharpley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study employs Durkheimian sociology, anomie in particular, to examine breed-specific legislation in Windsor, Ontario. This thesis is unique in that it analyses breed-specific legislation (BSL) in a way that has not been done previously, by applying a rigorous, sociological theory perspective. Other than discussions on totemism and limited discussions of animals, previous applications of Durkheim’s theories on anomie, morality and law have not focused on human-animal relationships, especially the relationship between humans and companion dogs. Human animal studies (HAS) and critical animal studies (CAS) literature has not employed the Durkheimian concept of anomie to understand human-animal relationships and BSL …

Locating And Situating Justice Pal: Twail, International Criminal Tribunals, And Judicial Powers, Sujith Xavier

Law Publications

This paper brings forward Justice Pal's dissenting opinion at the Tokyo Tribunal to add to Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) literature on international criminal law and the rules of evidence and procedure. It is part of a TWAIL effort to scrutinize the everyday practices of international prosecutions through procedural and evidentiary rules. By locating and situating Justice Pal's reasoning within the broader academic literature on dissents in international criminal law, it is possible to illustrate how and why Justice Pal's views were obscured as a relevant dissent. From this vantage point, this paper pursues Justice Pal's legacy as …

Asymmetrical Governance: Auditing Algorithms To Preserve Due Process Rights, Paul J. Baillargeon

Major Papers

We are now living in age where algorithms, and the data that feed them, govern a wide variety of decisions in our lives: not just search engines and personalized Netflix suggestions, but educational evaluations, stock market trades and political campaigns, the urban planning, and even how social services like welfare and public safety are managed. Heterogeneous lists like this have become the norm in any critical examination of algorithms, giving the impression of a ubiquitous relevance of algorithms. But algorithms can make mistakes that directly affect individuals and often contain both implicit and explicit biases. The technical complexity of algorithms, …

The Acquisition Of Scientific Evidence Between Frye And Daubert. From Ad Hominem Arguments To Cross-Examination Among Experts, Lorenzo Zoppellari

OSSA Conference Archive

The Frye and Daubert rulings give us two very different ways to intend the relation between law and science. Through the contributions of Wellman and Walton, we will see how the main method to question the expert’s testimony before a judge deferent to science is to question her personal integrity by using ad hominem arguments. Otherwise, using Alvin Goldman’s novice/expert problem, we will investigate if other manners of argumentative cross-examinations are possible.

The Full Picture: Preliminary Examinations At The International Criminal Court, Sara Wharton, Rosemary Grey

Law Publications

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) has described the preliminary examination as one of its “three core activities,” alongside investigating and prosecuting crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute). Honing in on this once-mysterious “core activity,” this article contributes to the recently expanding literature on preliminary examinations at the ICC by providing a much needed comprehensive picture of all preliminary examinations conducted to date. The twentieth anniversary of the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, provides a timely opportunity for this review as part of the broader effort to take stock …

Lifting The Curtain: Opening A Preliminary Examination At The International Criminal Court, Rosemary Grey, Sara Wharton

Law Publications

In the emerging literature on preliminary examinations, most scholars have focussed on issues that arise after a preliminary examination has been opened. Yet, there has been little analysis of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s decision to open a preliminary examination in the first place. Taking this gap in the literature as our starting point, and flagging an emerging debate in the ICC as to whether the ICC Statute envisages a ‘pre-preliminary examination’ stage at all, this article examines the law and policy which governs the opening of an ICC preliminary examination and makes the case for further critical discussion …

Contact Is A Stronger Predictor Of Attitudes Toward Police Than Race: A State-Of-The-Art Review, Amy Alberton, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

Purpose – This scoping review thoroughly scanned research on race, contacts with police and attitudes toward police. An exploratory meta-analysis then assessed the strength of their associations and interaction in Canada and the USA. Key knowledge gaps and specific future research needs, synthetic and primary, were identified. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach – A germinal methodological framework for conducting scoping reviews was used (Arksey and O’Malley, 2005). The authors searched for published or unpublished research over the past 15 years and retrieved 33 eligible surveys, 19 of which were included in a sample-weighted meta-analysis.

Findings – The …

Norms, Law And Social Change: Nigeria’S Anti-Corruptionstruggle, 1999–2017, Paul Ocheje

Law Publications

Corruption is notoriously persistent in Nigeria notwithstanding the panoply of laws deployed over the years against it. This article argues that the factors constraining the effectiveness of laws in the fight against corruption are to be found not in the laws, but in the larger societal matrix of resilient social norms and institutions, which constitute the environment of corruption in the country. The environment thus constituted is either conducive to, or largely tolerant of, corruption. The article then suggests that the anti-corruption effort, to be successful, must engage broadly with the environment by instigating social change.

“The Dark Corners Of The World”: International Criminal Law & The Global South, Sujith Xavier, John Reynolds

Law Publications

Despite international criminal law’s historically contingent doctrines and embedded biases, ThirdWorld self-determination movements continue to be enticed by international criminal justice as a potentially emancipatory project. This article seeks to peer inside the structural anatomy of the international criminal law enterprise from a vantage point oriented to the global South. It reflects broadly on discourses of international criminal law and its exponents as they relate to the global South, and explores one particularly contentious issue in the politics of international criminal law ç that of operational selectivity. Redressing such selectivities as they arise from geopolitical biases is an important first …

Impacts Of The Criminalization On The Everyday Lives Of People Living In With Hiv In Canada, Barry D. Adam, Richard Elliott, Patrice Corriveau, Ken English

Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology Publications

As part of a study on the social consequences of the criminal justice system on people living with HIV or AIDS (PHAs) in Canada, this article focuses on how heightened public identification of HIV with criminal matters is having wide ranging effects on perceived personal security and in particular on negotiating potential romantic and sexual interactions. As articulated by the Supreme Court of Canada, the courts have been enforcing a requirement that HIV-positive people disclose their sero-status to prospective partners, relying on the notion that “through deterrence it [the Criminal Code] will protect and serve to encourage honesty, frankness and …

Effects Of The Criminalization Of Hiv Transmission In Cuerrier On Men Reporting Unprotected Sex With Men, Barry D. Adam, Richard Elliott, Winston Husbands, James Murray, John Maxwell

Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology Publications

This paper reports on the perceptions and practices of men who have frequent unprotected sex with men in a socio-legal environment defined by the 1998 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Cuerrier. HIV-positive people are increasingly finding themselves in court since Cuerrier and many are trying to take account of legal reasoning in their own conduct. The judicial construction of behaviour likely to transmit HIV relies on a set of presumptions concerning individual responsibility, rational and contractual interaction, and consenting adults that raise a series of ambiguities and uncertainties among HIV-positive people attempting to implement …