Mental Illness as a Mitigating Factor
Bill Thompson writes for the Ontario Bar Association’s Criminal Justice section about how a defendant’s mental illness can be a mitigating factor that reduces her sentence. Read [...]
It’s Election Season Again: Harper Vows to Get Tough on Parole
Photo: Jail Cell by Andrew Bardwell (CC BY-SA 2.0) The Conservatives have a long history of trying to kill Canada’s system of gradually reintegrating people into the community at the end of a [...]
Wrongful Convictions and the Failure of the “Ignorance is Bliss” Approach
“A Cell” by Aliven Sarkar (CC BY-SA 3.0 ) How ubiquitous is the wrongful conviction? Although you might think scholars and lawyers alike would be keenly interested in knowing, a [...]
Can juries follow legal instructions? Frank discusses in the Toronto Star
We know surprisingly little about jurors’ capacity to understand and follow complex legal instructions. This issue has profound implications for our adversarial trial system, and Frank [...]
Frank discusses the poorly understood role of defence counsel in the Toronto Star
Frank writes about the troubling case of Joseph Groia, who was subjected to disciplinary proceedings by the Law Society for defending his client in an “uncivil” manner. Read the full [...]
For Whom Quesnelle Tolls: A Primer on Police Occurrence Reports Disclosure
Photo: Clifton Campville Church Bells by Brian Webster (CC BY-SA 2.0) The Supreme Court’s recent decision in R. v. Quesnelle, 2014 SCC 46 has got the legal community confused. In some [...]
Deal or No Deal Part II: Mandatory Minimums and the March Toward One-Sided Plea Bargaining
Photo: Justice, 50 Fleet Street, London by mira66 (CC BY 2.0) The use of harsh sentences to coerce pleas is a staple of American criminal justice. Alas, this perverse phenomenon has arrived in [...]
Every Step You Take, I’ll Be Watching You
Photo: I-Spy by 56:365 (CC BY-SA 2.0) Your phone company knows where your cellphone is at all times and, if you never leave home without your cellphone, it knows where you are at all times. This [...]
