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Full-Text Articles in Law
Sexual Assault Of Women And Adolescent Girls With Mental Disabilities, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
Sexual Assault Of Women And Adolescent Girls With Mental Disabilities, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
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This Report considers the research that addresses the sexual assault of women (age 18+) and adolescent girls (12-17) with mental disabilities (disabilities that affect cognition and decision-making, including intellectual disabilities present from birth, dementia, brain injury and certain psychiatric conditions.) These victims are targeted for sexual violence at rates even higher than for women generally. Yet when these women report abuse to authorities, the criminal trial process struggles to provide them with justice, while the consequences of disclosure can be severe and participation in the criminal justice process particularly traumatizing for them.
Legislated Ableism: Bill C-7 And The Rapid Expansion Of Maid In Canada, Isabel Grant
Legislated Ableism: Bill C-7 And The Rapid Expansion Of Maid In Canada, Isabel Grant
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This paper explores the recent expansion of medical assistance in dying to disabled people who are suffering intolerably but are not at the end of their lives. The paper argues that it is impossible to separate suffering caused by an irremediable disability and suffering caused by the impacts of systemic ableism, which include high rates of poverty, social isolation and exclusion for people with disabilities. The paper suggests that this expansion raises constitutional issues under s. 15 and s. 7 of the Charter because it is premised on a view that portrays disability as potentially worse than death and thus …
Sexual Assault And The Meaning Of Power And Authority For Women With Mental Disabilities, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
Sexual Assault And The Meaning Of Power And Authority For Women With Mental Disabilities, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
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The sexual assault of persons with mental disabilities (also described as cognitive, intellectual and developmental disabilities) occurs at alarmingly high rates worldwide. These assaults are a form of gender-based violence intersecting with discrimination based on disability. Our research on the treatment of such cases in the Canadian criminal justice system demonstrates the systemic barriers these victims face at the level of both substantive legal doctrine and trial procedure. Relying on feminist legal theory and disability theory, we argue in this paper that abuses of trust and power underlie most sexual assaults of women with mental disabilities. We argue that existing …
A Situational Approach To Incapacity And Mental Disability In Sexual Assault Law, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
A Situational Approach To Incapacity And Mental Disability In Sexual Assault Law, Janine Benedet, Isabel Grant
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Prosecutions for sexual assault most often focus on whether the Crown has proven that the complainant did not consent to the sexual activity in issue, based on her subjective state of mind at the time of the offence. However, Canadian criminal law also provides that no consent is obtained where the complainant is incapable of consenting. In cases where the complainant has a mental disability affecting cognition or decisionmaking, prosecutors in Canada have been reluctant to argue that the complainant was incapable of consenting. In this article, the authors agree that claims of incapacity should be used sparingly, but contend …
Hearing The Sexual Assault Complaints Of Women With Mental Disabilities: Evidentiary And Procedural Issues, Janine Benedet
Hearing The Sexual Assault Complaints Of Women With Mental Disabilities: Evidentiary And Procedural Issues, Janine Benedet
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When a woman with a mental disability makes a complaint of sexual assault, she must confront a criminal trial process that was not designed in contemplation of her as a witness. The requirements of repeated testimony under oath and the ability to be cross-examined are not always well-suited to the particular needs and capacities of women with mental disabilities. These problems are magnified by the tendency to infantilize women with mental disabilities, thereby diminishing their credibility and depicting them as hypersexual when they engage in any sexual activity. These stereotypes also manifest themselves in the application of evidentiary rules relating …
Disability And The Income Tax, David G. Duff
Disability And The Income Tax, David G. Duff
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The federal Income Tax Act contains an extensive number of provisions addressing the taxation of families with disabled persons. These provisions, however, have been the subject of a series of ongoing incremental adjustments, and do not reflect a comprehensive and coherent approach to the taxation of these individuals in light of their unique financial circumstances. This article considers the existing income tax provisions regarding families with disabled persons, analyzing the relationship between disabilities and appropriate tax liabilities, and providing suggestions for reform of the current tax structure. Focussing on the goals of tax policy narrowly defined as compared to the …