Law Commons^™

Legal Representation For Complainants Of Sexual Violence In The Criminal Justice System: A Proposal To Advance Women's Equality, Karen M. Bellehumeur

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Very few survivors of sexual violence choose to engage the Canadian criminal justice system despite the fact that we expect law to be an effective tool to combat sexual violence. Since the vast majority of sexual violence survivors are female, the criminal justice system is failing women. This failure is largely because of the harm it causes by re-victimizing sexual assault complainants. Much of that harm arises from misunderstandings about trauma and from the existence of rape myths and gender stereotypes.. I argue that the criminal justice system’s treatment of female sexual violence complainants violates their section 7 and 15 …

Meaning Of Accountability Under Section 72 Of The Youth Criminal Justice Act, Brenda Kobayashi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study examined judicial decisions, post the 2012 amendments, to determine what drives the accountability analysis under section 72(1)(b). I asked if accountability was equated to retribution as reasoned by the Ontario Court of Appeal, in R v AO? Additionally, has the introduction of specific deterrence and denunciation, under section 38(2)(f) had an effect on the accountability analysis? The qualitative results revealed three sets of cases. In each set weight was given to retribution in the accountability analysis. In some cases, retribution was given greater weight to the rehabilitative needs of the young person and in other cases the rehabilitative …

Neither Seen Nor Heard: Surviving Children Of Domestic Homicide, Alexis Winfield

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Domestic homicide is a critical human rights issue that continues to impact women, children, and families in Canada. Between 2010-2018, 662 individuals died as a result of domestic homicide, many of whom were mothers who left surviving children behind. This study examined the experiences of surviving children prior to, during, and in the aftermath of domestic homicide through quantitative and qualitative court and media document analyses. It was found that 136 children in Ontario experienced domestic homicide between 2010-2017. Domestic homicide impacted surviving children in all domains of functioning and was often associated with long-term adverse outcomes. Court documents revealed …

Extending Our Promise: Providing Help To Mentally Ill Accused As Soon As Practicable, Cassandra Demelo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines the current state of the criminal law’s interaction with mentally ill persons, with a specific interest in this interaction during pre-trial phases such as arrest and bail. It argues that the current provisions in the Criminal Code of Canada that allow for limited instances of pre-trial mental health assessments for adults are insufficient. The current options, including assessments to determine “not criminally responsible for reasons of mental disorder” or “fitness”, are not applicable in many situations. Other options available to accused outside of the Criminal Code are also lacking, as they are limited to the Mental Health …

Comorbid Depression And Substance Abuse In Perpetrators Of Domestic Homicide, Casey Oliver

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Globally up to 38% of murdered women are victims of domestic homicide. However, research has yet to examine comorbid depression and substance abuse in domestic homicide, despite comorbid mental health conditions being associated with homicide in the general population. A retrospective case analysis approach was performed using domestic homicide cases that had been reviewed by the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee of Ontario. Group comparisons were made by compiling cases into groups based on perpetrator mental health status: a no mental illness group, depression only group, substance abuse only group, and comorbid depression and substance abuse group. Statistical analyses compared …

Trusting To A Fault: Criminal Negligence And Faith Healing Deaths, Ken Nickel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Faith healing deaths occur infrequently in Canada, but when they do they pose a considerable challenge for criminal justice. Similar to caregivers who absent-mindedly and fatally forget a child in a hot vehicle, faith healers do not intentionally harm their children. It can seem legally excessive and unjust to prosecute achingly bereaved parents. But unlike ‘hot-car’ deaths, faith healing parents are not absent minded in the deaths they cause. Rather, significant deliberation and strength of will is necessary to treat their child’s ailment with faith alone. Two different Criminal Code provisions can be brought to bear upon these deaths, namely, …

Ontario College Of Teachers Cases Of Teacher Sexual Misconduct, Taryn Mototsune

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Teacher sexual misconduct in Ontario was examined by using cases reviewed by the Ontario College of Teachers between 2000 and 2013. Despite the impetus by key stakeholders to develop appropriate policies to circumvent teacher-student sexual relationships, this phenomenon is still not well understood. The current study found that around 92 percent of perpetrators are men. The results indicate that male perpetrators who abuse elementary school-aged males are more likely to have multiple victims and longer offending careers. This study found less intrusive sexual behaviour, fewer multiple victim perpetrators, and shorter offending careers in more recent cases. This suggests that the …

Policing Cyber Bullying: How Parents, Educators, And Law Enforcement Respond To Digital Harassment, Ryan Broll

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Some prior research has emphasised how adults ought to address cyber bullying, yet little is known about how they actually prevent and respond to digital harassment. This study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the formal and informal “policing” of cyber bullying by a network of security actors: parents, teachers and school administrators, and the public police. Data were collected through a mixed methods research design consisting of semi-structured qualitative interviews with eight parents, 14 teachers, and 12 members of law enforcement (n = 34) and quantitative surveys completed by 52 parents.

Drawing upon nodal governance theory as …

Psychopathy And Sentencing: An Investigative Look Into When The Pcl-R Is Admitted Into Canadian Courtrooms And How A Pcl-R Score Affects Sentencing Outcome, Katie Davey

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Little is known about how and when the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) is being introduced into Canadian Courts or how it affects sentencing outcomes. Using the Lexis-Nexis Quicklaw Academic Database to retrieve judge’s sentencing decisions, all 274 cases with PCL-R information for Canadian courts were included in this study. It was hypothesized correctly that PCL-R information would most often be introduced in Long Term Offender (LTO) and Dangerous Offender (DO) applications as well as sentencing cases for murderers and sex offenders. The 274 cases were then reduced to 37 cases in order to focus on sentencing without Dangerous Offender or …

Canada's Marihuana Medical Access Regulations: Up In Smoke, Carolynn Conron

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted the constitutional principles entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to mean that everyone in Canada has a constitutional right to access necessary medical treatment without fear of criminal sanction. The latest research suggests cannabis (marihuana) provides a unique medicinal benefit that, for some individuals, is necessary. The federal criminal prohibition of cannabis deprives many individuals of a potentially beneficial medicine and stigmatizes them with a criminal record.

Without a valid medical cannabis access system, the criminal prohibition is invalid. The current Marihuana Medical Access Regulations were recently struck down. Parliament …

Communicating Crimes: Covering Gangs In Contemporary Canadian Journalism, Chris Richardson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this integrated-article dissertation, I examine representations of gangs in Canadian journalism, focusing primarily on contemporary newspaper reporting. While the term “gang” often refers to violent groups of young urban males, it can also signify outlaw bikers, organized crime, terrorist cells, non-criminal social groups, and a wide array of other collectives. I build on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework to probe this ambiguity, seeking to provide context and critical assessments that will improve crime reporting and its reception. In the course of my work, I examine how popular films like West Side Story inform journalists’ descriptions of gangs. Though reporters have …