Famous Canadian Killer

The Canadian criminal justice system is often represented by the balanced scales of justice. These scales symbolize the need for the law to be viewed objectively in order to ensure a fair determination of innocence. Ideally, the criminal justice system should incorporate the values of the scales of justice to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate the law (Jordan, 2014). When dealing with crime, this system mainly uses methods of retributive justice in order to achieve its goals. However, despite justice being supposedly impartial, there is an overwhelming amount of injustice in all stages of the criminal justice process, from the charging of the individuals in court to their sentence in prison (Jordan, 2014). To combat this

During the 1990s, the emphasis and development of restorative justice perhaps reached its summit when both the federal government and the RCMP outwardly problematized conventional justice on the one hand, while they “championed” restorative justice on the other. Victims have generally expressed their satisfaction after participating in restorative justice programs. Moreover, while conventional justice has been plagued by significant reoffending rates, many scholars have found that restorative programs demonstrate success in this regard. Thus, we essentially have a failed experiment by Canada's leading and national police force on the one hand, but widespread academic support for restorative justice both in Canada and internationally on the

How often do we stop to think about the minorities of this country and how they become involved and are treated in the criminal justice system? I surmise; only some of us will concern ourselves with such details. For some like myself; we might work with individuals of the Aboriginal community or have interacted with members of this group whether through school or work. Canada “had an Aboriginal identity in 2011 of 4 % or 1.4 million people” (Kelly-Scott and Smith, 2015). Of this total there is a gross overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in Canada’s Criminal Justice System. This overrepresentation of Aboriginals in the CJS comes as a result of socio economic factors, sentencing reforms, systemic discrimination, education and employment and victimization of Aboriginal women. In partial fulfilment of this course, this paper will address the leading factors which has led to the overrepresentation of this group in the CJS.

Nancy Macdonald (2016), an editor who works for the Maclean’s, writes an article on the way Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens are treated by the law and police force. At least 36 per cent of the women and 25 per cent of men, who are Indigenous, were already sentenced to provincial and territorial custody in Canada. Nancy explains, from these scores, these statistics make up at least 4 per cent of the national population. She also explains, if you add in the federal prisons, the statistics will now account for 22.8 per cent Indigenous inmates of the total incarcerated population.

The Canadian court system, like anything made by man, has flaws. One of these flaws is the wrongful conviction of many men and women like David Milgaard and Steven Truscott. These innocent men spent years of their life behind bars because of the court system, serving the sentence for a crime they did not commit.

Wrongful conviction is an issue that has plagued the Canadian Justice System since it came to be. It is an issue that is hard to sort out between horrific crimes and society’s desire to find truth and justice. Incidences of wrongful conviction hit close to home right here in Saskatchewan as well as across the entire nation. Experts claim “each miscarriage of justice, however, deals a blow to society’s confidence in the legal justice system” (Schmalleger, Volk, 2014, 131). Professionals in the criminal justice field such as police, forensic analyst, and prosecutors must all be held accountable for their implications in wrongful convictions. There are several reasons for wrongful convictions such as racial bias, false confessions, jailhouse

No community in Canada comes into conflict with criminal justice system officials more disproportionately than Aboriginals (Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.77). Indeed, Aboriginal Canadians are often subject to both overt and unintended discrimination from Canadian law enforcement due in large part to institutionalized reputations as chronic substance abusers who are incapable of reform (Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.77-78). One of the more startling contemporary examples of this is the case of Frank Paul; a Mi’kmaq Canadian who was left to die in a Vancouver alley by officers of the Vancouver Police Department after being denied refuge in a police “drunk tank”. Not surprisingly, this event garnered significant controversy and public outcry amongst

Many individuals believe that the criminal system and its institutions are flawed. These critiques have been brought on by the ineffectiveness of prisons to reform individuals, the ineptness of the system to reduce crime rates, the lack of focus on victims of crimes, as well as the racist, classist and sexist practices existing in these institutions. Therefore, we can ask ourselves if the elimination of the current penal system and the implementation of alternatives would better allow

Among the many differing cases of wrongfully convicted Canadians, the case of Guy Paul Morin is very interesting. There were many issues that caused an innocent man from Queensville, Ontario to be convicted of the murder of Christine Jessop. We’re going to look at how the police failed to conduct a thorough investigation, how the court system failed, and how cases like this can be preventing in the future.

The Canadian Criminal Justice System is, for the most part, reflective of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and various Supreme Court of Canada case-law. Everyone who finds themselves on the opposing end of the Criminal Justice System is entitled to certain protections every step of the way, beginning even before the arrest; laws protect us from unreasonable investigative techniques, guarantee certain rights at point of arrest, and provide us with the right to counsel. The bail court departs from the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard in that the crown only needs to prove on a balance of probabilities (Kellough, 1996, p. 175) in order to take away a person’s freedom. It is for this reason I decided to limit the scope of my

The Jefferson County Egan Murders are nothing of surprise to anyone. On the cold dark night of New Years in 1964 Gerald and Peter along with their sister Barbra Egan were found killed at the rest stop on Interstate 81 in Watertown NY. The murders were carried out very well leaving little evidence behind on the scene. The murder weapons were suspected to be a .38 and a .25 caliber handgun and possibly a semi-automatic rifle. The Egan’s were widely known in the area for robberies and burglaries that police couldn’t keep up with until after the deaths.

The novel “Three Day Road” intertwines the story of a young soldier during the First World War and the experiences of his aunt growing up in pre-20th century Canada. Though at face-value this seems to have little relation to the study of the Criminal Justice system, the two narratives tackle important issues. With the soldier’s experiences, the reader contemplates the place of law and justice on the battlefields and the effect of these actions once the war is over. As we learn about the life of the soldier’s aunt, we are made aware of the wrongs done to Native American people in Canada’s history and how this is still having repercussions. By reading “Three Day Road,” people involved in the justice

Twenty-nine offences in the Criminal Code have a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment time. The majority of these sentences were introduced with Bill C-68, a set of firearms-related legislation introduced in 1995. In addition, there are also mandatory minimum sentences for several other offences, such as child prostitution, betting, pool-making, and impaired driving. Mandatory minimum sentences impose legislated punishments, furthermore, there is no discretion for judges to reduce the sentence for anyone convicted of an offence carrying a mandatory minimum sentence in Canada, which is seen by critics as a major problem in our Canadian legal system. Judges should be given legal discretion in reducing the sentence for accused individuals. A number of cases have dealt with the question of whether minimum mandatory sentences violate section 12 of the Charter. This essay will look at R. v. Latimer in depth, as well as briefly explore some additional issues that mandatory minimum sentences place on Canadian Citizens.

On March 15th, 2015, Amy Minsky, a reporter for Global News released a news article about Stephen Harper’s new tough on crime proposal. Stephen Harper wanted to change the length of imprisonment for people sentenced to life. His proposed bill was called “Life Means Life”. This meant that people who committed the most brutal and heinous crimes would be sentenced to spend the rest of their living days, without parole, behind bars. The purpose of this paper is to argue that Stephen Harper’s approach to being tough on crime is problematic.

The preservation of human rights are the building blocks within society and provide a clear image of the emphasis on equality. Unfortunately, there are numerous times where it is evident there was little regard for human rights. For example, the immense slavery of African-Americans within the United States and residential schools for Aboriginals in Canada, are instances of a disregard for human rights. Another major example of human rights issues within Canadian history and in current day, is the treatment of female offenders. Prisoners overall have been subsequent victims of human rights violations, as society tends to disregard or dehumanize them due to their criminal status. However, this is exemplified for female offenders as even before