Criminal Defence Law Blog
This article wouldn’t usually get my attention because it is an “American” experience, but with Harper’s use of terrorism to Americanize our laws and incarcerate people for expression, this is perhaps something we should pay attention to, because it’s coming here, sad to say.
I’ll just put this out there, without comment.
The Hospital Loophole Drunk Drivers Use as a “Get Out of Jail Free Card” | Dr. Brett Belchetz.
The danger in prosecuting historic offences is that memories can be created and manipulated.
DOMESTIC ASSAULT – If you’ve been charged you might benefit from reading this article. “love, expressed as violence, and violence described as love” The process is “automatic laying of charges in domestic-abuse complaints, stricter jail sentences, the use of separation and restraining orders, forfeiture of parental rights, and other now-standard tools of criminal justice.”
Can domestic abusers be rehabilitated? – The Globe and Mail.
US & THEM – People commonly ask me how can I defend guilty people? Firstly I am amazed that every single one of us does not have a criminal record because we have ALL transgressed the law one or more times during our lives and probably deserve one. Secondly, most of my clients are just like you and me who have found themselves in a situation, whether of their own making (making bad decisions, exercising poor judgement) or not of their own making (being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the recipient of someone’s vindictiveness, suffering from a mental illness or condition) and who are ill equipped to deal with a crisis situation, who act out or make mistakes. Most of my clients are not happy to have to see me and never want to see me again at the end. So when I get all up in your face about my client’s constitutional rights and fairness and judicial discretion and police abuse of power and so on, I’m fighting this fight for YOU. You just don’t know it yet.
We now routinely have police dash cams, in cruiser cams and police station surveillance cams. They all serve to resolve a great number of criminal trial issues. In addition, police body cams can only enhance and improve the interaction between police and citizens while saving a lot of charges and court time.
Matt Gurney: Get cameras on the police, now | National Post.
Harper “takes us back to the cruelly punitive era before rehabilitation was a goal of the system.”
Stephen Harper’s cynical crackdown on crime: Editorial | Toronto Star.
Yes they can. Although it is a search which is not lawfully authorized that constitutes an unreasonable search that violates your privacy interests, the information obtained as a result of the search will not be excluded in a trial as its admission will not bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
PROLONGED SEGREGATION – “has been found to constitute either torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.” and our jails can impose it administratively for months or years for whatever reason they want, without review. This is very wrong.
Harper’s new laws impose a mandatory minimum jail sentence of two years (!) if you sell weed in or near any public place usually frequented by persons under the age of 18 years, regardless of whether anyone else is present or not. The problem is that in our cities, where does that NOT apply other than bars and private clubs?
Drug-dealing law intended to protect minors is unconstitutional, judge decides.