Law Commons^™

Electronic Evidence In Canada, Robert Currie, Steve Coughlan

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This chapter discusses the issues surrounding electronic evidence in Canada. Topics discussed include the best evidence rule, electronic signatures, web-based evidence, and video-tape and security camera evidence. In addition rules around protection of privacy, discovery, and confidentiality are pursued. Finally the chapter also considers the many issues which arise around gathering electronic evidence in the criminal context, including wiretaps, general warrants, and searches of computers and cell phones.

Book Review: Gary Botting, Extradition Between Canada And The United States (Ardsley: Transnational Publishers, 2005), Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Both domestic and international laws regarding the extradition of fugitive criminal offenders are in a state of flux throughout the world. The current legal landscape reflects tension between the interest of state authorities in promoting “security,” on the one hand, and increasing recognition that human rights obligations are at play, on the other. Gary Botting’s book, Extradition Between Canada and the United States, successfully addresses this tension by way of a detailed examination of what is probably the most integrated extradition partnership outside the European Union.

Universal Jurisdiction: A Means To End Impunity Or A Threat To Friendly International Relations?, Karinne Lantz

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Ending impunity for perpetrators of serious international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes is considered important because convictions may achieve justice and deter future acts. A controversial tool for ending impunity is the exercise of universal jurisdiction by states. For its supporters, universal jurisdiction denies safe havens for perpetrators of heinous offenses and ensures that their crimes do not go unpunished due to a lack of will or means. In contrast, critics warn that universal jurisdiction threatens international relations, international justice, and the rights of the accused.

The recent resistance of the African Union to attempted …

Criminal Justice Models: Canadian Experience In European And Islamic Comparative Perspective, Bruce P. Archibald

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This paper examines Canadian models of criminal justice in a European and Islamic comparative perspective. The traditional model of Canadian criminal justice is a state centred adversarial one intended to punish, deter and/or rehabilitate offenders who are accorded formal due process protections embedded in a liberal constitutional and procedural rights. This model has been transformed recently into an ambiguously tripartite adversarial model through an overlay of victims’ rights at all stages. However, Canadian law also recognizes alternative processes through various forms of problem solving courts and sometimes comprehensive restorative justice approaches, the latter rooted in relational notions of rights. Meanwhile, …

Prosecutorial Discretion In Assisted Dying In Canada: A Proposal For Charging Guidelines, Jocelyn Downie, Ben White

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

English Abstract: An Expert Panel of the Royal Society of Canada and a Select Committee of the Québec National Assembly both recently recommended the issuance of permissive guidelines for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion on voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide and “medical aid in dying” respectively. It seems timely, therefore, to propose a set of offence-specific guidelines for how prosecutorial discretion should be exercised in cases of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canadian provinces and territories. We take as our starting point the only existing guidelines of this sort currently in force in the world (i.e. the British Columbia …

Recent Crime Legislation: The Challenge For Prison Health Care, Adelina Iftene, Allan Manson

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article reviews the potential effects of Bill C-10 and related legislation that provide for more legal minimum sentences and reduce the possibility of conditional release. Without more resources overcrowding - an already pressing issue in Canadian corrections - will increase. We further review the potential effects of overcrowding as exemplified in other jurisdiction.

A Tale Of Two Brothers: The Impact Of The Khadr Cases On Canadian Anti-Terrorism Law, Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

After something of a slow start, Canada’s post-9/11 terrorism laws have seen a fair amount of traffic over the last several years, and many of these prosecutions were high-profile in both the public and the legal senses. The case of the “Toronto 18” was well-chewed over by the press, coverage oscillating between grim amusement at the apparent incompetence of some of the accused and the sobering danger presented by others. The Supreme Court of Canada recently granted leave to appeal in the cases of Momin Khawaja, who was convicted for various terrorist activities carried out within and outside Canada, and …

Charter Without Borders? The Supreme Court Of Canada, Transnational Crime And Constitutional Rights And Freedoms, Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The first decades of the Supreme Court of Canada's Charter jurisprudence have coincided roughly with an increase in the extent to which Canada is affected by transnational crime and the nation's consequential participation in inter-state efforts to combat it. The court itself has remarked on its discrete "jurisprudence on matters involving Canada's international co-operation in criminal investigations and prosecutions." This article examines the Court's adoption of a different approach to Charter analysis in cases involving transnational elements and surveys where the Court has "drawn the line" in terms of Charter application. By way of analyzing jurisprudence on exclusion of evidence …

Recent Crime Legislation: The Challenge For Prison Health Care, Adelina Iftene, Allan Manson

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article reviews the potential effects of Bill C-10 and related legislation that provide for more legal minimum sentences and reduce the possibility of conditional release. Without more resources overcrowding - an already pressing issue in Canadian corrections - will increase. We further review the potential effects of overcrowding as exemplified in other jurisdiction.