J. Papoff   On its own merits, eyewitness evidence is problematic and poses challenges to the truth-finding function of Canada’s legal system.  Every individual, and thus every eyewitness, is affected by biases and prejudices that can make it more difficult to assess who or what was seen at the time a crime takes place.  This paper will explain that reliability issues with eyewitness testimony are aggravated by cross-racial bias, a phenomenon which causes eyewitness identifications to be less reliable when the witness is a different race than the identified individual.  In ..read more

J. Shymko             In failing to provide sufficient mental health training, law enforcement turns a blind eye to the importance of de-stigmatization, equity, historic injustices, and safety, further perpetuating harm to vulnerable communities. Thus, “for the sake of everyone involved, police should be well prepared and have adequate support to answer the call when people are in mental health distress. They should also be equipped to play a role in preventing crises as part of a consistent, integrated, efficient system involving crimina ..read more

Lizzie Tough   This is the second part of the blog series Decriminalizing Queerness and will focus on the police and criminal justice system response after the decriminalizing process for consensual sexual relations began in 1969. Introduction This blog will discuss the continuing criminality of queerness in Canada during the 1970s and 1980s, with 1987 signaling a further change in criminal law in Canada. The first part of this blog will focus on the ongoing struggles and harms experienced by queer individuals at the hands of players in the criminal justice system.[1] This includes t ..read more

By D Wark Rules governing the use of evidence are critical components to ensuring the credibility and fairness of the trial process. In the criminal justice system, evidentiary rules are critical to ensuring that defence counsel can properly defend the accused. This is a fundamental principle of the criminal justice system. The case R v Sanderson highlights why credible forensic evidence and witness testimony are critical to upholding the integrity of the justice system. This case also highlights how unscrupulous tactics by the Crown can create the potential for miscarriages of justice. Robert ..read more

by M. Yuel Designed to strike a balance between individual liberty and public safety, administering bail is paramount in the State’s process of administering justice. As a response to the ongoing social concern of increasing rates of violent crime across Canada, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-48 which modifies the Criminal Code’s current bail regime to allegedly ameliorate public safety.[1] However, the cracks in our bail system and its operation call for more than a short-term “band-aid” solution.[2]  This Bill is a temporary “tough on crime” approach that will furt ..read more

by Lizzie Tough Trigger Warning: This blog series discusses the injustices of criminalized queerness as a sexual offence in Canada. Some language and topics could be triggering for 2SLGBTQIA+ readers. This blog contains discussions on the meaning of “consensual” in the context of sexual offences. A Brief History of Criminalized Queerness Sexual diversity has existed since time immemorial, and, in the past, Canada has criminalized this trait. Anti-queer laws were imported to present-day Canada by European settlers in the early colonial days.[1] Until 1869, same-sex relationships were punis ..read more

By A. Kwok   This entry is part two of a miniseries of blogs about the Symposium on the Proposal to Create an International Anti-Corruption Court. This blog will synopsize the third of six articles of the symposium, and provide a brief critical analysis. For a better understanding of the IACC, please refer to the previous blog: To Bring the World to Account: Introducing a System to Tackle International Corruption. In September 2023, the Transnational Criminal Law Review published a journal symposium discussing the possibility of a judicial body targeting transnational corruption: the Inte ..read more

Nancy Kirk and Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich This blog post answers a riddle: what connects justice, neuroscience, and Winston Churchill? The answer is the international Restorative Justice 4 All Institute in the United Kingdom. The two of us, who are now collaborating on interdisciplinary research, first met in the Churchill Room at the London Houses of Parliament at the 10 year anniversary celebration of RJ4All at the UK Houses of Parliament in December 2023. Nancy is a graduate student studying neuroscience and a volunteer with RJ4All doing front line RJ work in East London. Rebecca is a lawyer ..read more

This entry is part one of a miniseries of blogs about the Symposium on the Proposal to Create an International Anti-Corruption Court. This blog will provide background information behind the proposal for an anti-corruption court, synopsize the first three of six articles of the symposium, and provide a brief critical analysis.   A few months ago, the Transnational Criminal Law Review, published by the University of Windsor, released its first journal symposium discussing the possibility of ..read more

By Colton Fehr*   Irwin Law’s “Essentials” series is deservedly among the most populous on bookshelves in Canadian law schools, libraries, and offices. While the series typically provides concise overviews of broad topics like criminal or constitutional law, it more recently has begun to include editions on particularly complex constitutional rights protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[i] Professors Robert Diab and Chris Hunt’s recent addition on the protection against unreasonable search and seizure provided in section 8 of the Charter falls into the lat ..read more