An individual with moderate to severe autism can expect to be in conflict with the law at some point in their life. With an inability to communicate, that can be a very dangerous situation.
WAIT! WHAT? In the trial of the murder of a black man, you don’t want the jury of nearly all-white southerners to see your client’s confederate license plate because they might draw an adverse inference about his character?
A JUDGE HAS DETERMINED THAT DELIBERATELY COUGHING ON SOMEONE CAN CONSTITUTE THE CRIMINAL OFFENCE OF ASSAULT
THE RANSBERGER PIVOT – A basic persuasive technique that begins with STFU.
DUTY COUNSEL –> UNDERRATED, OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID – “Fortunately, in Canada, people who need legal advice can turn to one of the most important and least-known essential services we have: duty counsel. It’s just another thing to be proud of in our country. Duty counsel represent people who don’t have a lawyer in the initial stages of the justice system: first appearances before a judge, bail hearings, child custody matters, mental health courts and much more.”
YOU CANNOT DETERMINE IMPAIRMENT FROM BLOOD THC LEVELS – “Even the Crown’s witness, Centre of Forensic Sciences toxicologist Betty Chow, agreed there are too many variables — how was the cannabis ingested, how long before driving, was the person new to the drug — making it impossible to determine if a driver was impaired based just on a blood THC level.”
THE ROLE OF THE PROSECUTOR AND THE SANCTITY OF PLEA AGREEMENTS
“Crown counsel represent the public’s interest and not that of a victim or complainant. It cannot be over-emphasized that the purpose of a criminal prosecution is not to obtain a conviction. The repudiation of a plea agreement is a rare and exceptional event.”
LEGISLATIVE REFORM OF CANADA’S SENTENCING LAWS IS OVERDUE. THE TIME IS NOW
“True, some of these growing disparities are largely rooted in the previous Harper government’s failed “tough on crime” policies. But that doesn’t let the Trudeau Liberals off the hook for failing to halt the spreading stain of shame by reversing these policies. It is well known that mandatory minimum sentences disproportionately impact racialized groups. The federal government has promised for years to do away with these harmful, one-size-fits-all sentences.”
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