THIS IS NOT A 75 YEAR SENTENCE

To clarify, the mandatory sentence in Canada for first degree murder is life in prison without eligibility for parole for 25 years.  This is not a 25 year sentence.  The sentence means AT LEAST 25 years in prison after which a convict can apply for parole but will not necessarily be paroled.  Even if parole …

BDSM and ROUGH SEX – IS IT ILLEGAL?

BDSM and ROUGH SEX – Is it illegal? It’s a good question since these practices have become more mainstream. A person can legally consent to an assault but according to the law one cannot consent to the causing of bodily harm. The question is, what is bodily harm? Breaking a bone or cutting the skin …

“NO POLICE” SIGNS – DON’T WORK

“NO POLICE” sign – here’s an interesting approach that didn’t work. The owner of a store that sells marijuana paraphernalia (and marijuana as it turns out) posted a sign that said that police officers were not allowed entry without a warrant and had his lawyer send a letter to the Chief of Police to the …

MINORITY REPORT AND PREVENTATIVE ARRESTS

Within days of the Ottawa attack Harper talks of ramping up hate laws and giving the state new powers that “would include ‘preventive arrests,’ potentially taking the country down the slippery slope of guilty-until-proven innocent authoritarian policies”. This is “terrorism used as a catalyst to break down civil liberties and accumulate more state power.”  This …

Why Are Lawyers So Expensive? I’ll Tell You Why — Lawyerist

Because you get a lot for your money. “Your problems are now my problems. My clients go home and sleep soundly for the first time in weeks or months. I go home and think about the legal issues all evening. At night I dream about my client’s… case. Sometimes I wake up in a cold …

MANDATORY CHARGE POLICIES HAVE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

In Ontario when a domestic assault situation is called into police SOMEONE WILL BE ARRESTED. “Some are under the impression that when a woman is being abused by her male partner, all she has to do is call 911 and the police will arrive like knights in shining armour. This is not always the reality. …

Online hate speech could be curtailed under new anti-terror push – Politics – CBC News

We need a thoughtful, debated, reasoned approach not a kneejerk reaction. ‘We could not arrest someone for having radical thoughts. It’s not a crime in Canada.” “No law can possibly deter hateful thoughts from those who think them,” “This is a very slippery slope … and is going to have to be dispassionately and reasonably …

HERE COME THE CANADIAN THOUGHT POLICE

“Your words, your thoughts and your beliefs could be made criminal. It seems the Conservatives mean to, once again, seize upon a tragic event to fast-track a potentially unconstitutional law. Canadians are asked to blindly stand by and be stripped of their civil liberties in the interests of security. And they couldn’t even wait a …