The Overcriminalization of COVID-19
n this blog, I will be discussing the risks and dangers that overcriminalization presents in the time of COVID-19. I will start with a short assessment why COVID-19 is at risk of overcriminalization. After, I will examine the dangers presented by overcriminalization of COVID-19. I will discuss how overcriminalization disproportionately affects minority populations, especially Indigenous persons in Canada.
Mental Health and Public Security
The case of Ontario (Attorney General) v G (“G”) is a complex and interesting case that deals with the issues of discrimination based on mental disability, transparency in judicial decisions, and conflicting rights granted under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”). This case commentary will focus primarily on the discrimination that individuals found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (“NCRMD”) faced due to Ontario’s Christopher’s Law
The Presumption of “Care or Control”
In 2016, the Criminal Code (“the Code”) contained a section which has since been repealed, section 258(1)(a), which read “where it is proved that the accused occupied the seat or position ordinarily occupied by a person who operates a motor vehicle…the accused shall be deemed to have had the care or control of the vehicle” [emphasis added]. This definition of “care or control” applied to the also-repealed section 253 of the Code.
Abstract Populism of the Reasonable Person
Section 24(2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”) concerns whether evidence obtained as a result of Charter-breaching state conduct should be admitted or not. The section essentially dictates that, should the admission of evidence bring the administration of justice into disrepute, the evidence should be excluded.
Assessing Timeliness Should Include Deliberation
R v KGK (“KGK”), a 2020 Manitoba judgment that made its way to the Supreme Court of Canada (“the Court”), dealt with issues relating to section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”). Delays in criminal proceedings are not unusual and, in R v Jordan (“Jordan”), the Court attempted to regulate the time spent up to trial, finding a certain apathy towards the idea of a “speedy trial”.
