Criminal Defence Law Blog
I wonder why the Judges are not limited to the assistance of duty counsel or the $100/hour legal aid rate paid to lawyers and subject to the financial income eligibility criterion of about $12,000/annum, if their defence is publicly funded? That’s all any other accused person is afforded.
Public pays millions for legal fees of federal judges under investigation | Toronto Star.
If a government wants to control a portion of the population they determine their cultural distinction and criminalize it. “In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion and social contempt. So we don’t. Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color “criminals” and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind. Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African-Americans.” The drug was is the new Jim Crow.
Book Excerpt: Understanding the New Jim Crow | BillMoyers.com.
James Wigmore knows a lot about alcohol. If after drinking you don’t remember what you did, does that mean you have a defence for what you did?
Here’s the truth: “Culturally, we’ve become much more civilized,” “Globally, the decline (in crime) since the mid-1990s is also evident in countries from Europe to Asia.” For Harper to claim responsibility for the decline in crime in Canada is simply and blatently dishonest.
This is likely the last thing Eddie Greenspan wrote. “Imprisonment, if anything, increases the likelihood of reoffending.” YET “Our Conservative government believes that convicted criminals belong behind bars.” No qualifications, no exceptions. As an MP said: “Mr. Speaker, that is scary to hear.” Yes it is scary.
Greenspan & Doob: Stephen Harper’s scary crime bluster | National Post.
This is the American experience and this is where we are heading. Our public defenders are called duty counsel. Previously they have not been authorized to conduct trials however this is changing. Is this what we really want?
What If Your Freedom Was In The Hands Of The Public Defender? | Deblis & Deblis.
HARPER: Bah humbug. Screw the poor …again. “Equal justice for all is the most basic principle of a fair legal system. But for the poor who can’t afford to hire good lawyers, raise bail or pay for fines imposed as punishment, the criminal justice system is anything but equal. That inequality has now been made even worse by the imposition of mandatory victim surcharges as an additional fine on people convicted of crimes.”
Canadian criminal justice meets ghost of Christmas past | Toronto Star.
THE STAIRCASE – If you’re looking for a series to watch I highly recommend “The Staircase”. This is an 8 part documentary series of a murder case that shows the twists and turns, complexities, issues and difficulties of a murder trial. If you’re interested in finding out what a typical murder (or any serious criminal) trial is really like – in real life – check it out on youtube. Here’s episode one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2345vJZhSw