PRE-SENTENCE CREDIT IN THE AGE OF COVID-19
Over the past year, COVID-19 has ravaged every corner of the globe. All Canadians have had their lives upended by the pandemic, and have had to adapt to this “new normal” in which protective measures including drastic physical distancing measures, and the donning of personal protective equipment are now part of the common parlance of everyday life. Certain subsets of the Canadian population have faced more drastic measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of c
In The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time: R v Coutu
R v Coutu is a classic scenario of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As described in further detail below, the accused was arrested due to showing up at a location where the police’s canine unit had tracked a suspect involved in an armed robbery. Despite at “first glance” the accused matched the supposed appearance of the suspect, the accused was later cleared of the robbery. However, the accused was found to be in possession of illegal weapons and was subsequently
Reasonable Parole Eligibility Periods
On January 29, 2017, the sounds of gunshots and screams of horror echoed throughout the hallowed and ordinarily peaceful halls of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec. The lives of six Muslim Canadians were lost entirely, and countless others irrevocably altered, on that dark night. Alexandre Bissonnette, at the time 27 years old, was charged with six counts of first-degree murder under s 235 of the Criminal Code, and also with six counts of attempt to commit murder under it
The Fine Line of Language and Entrapment – R. v. Ahmad
The recent decision of R. v. Ahmad provides an interpretation of entrapment in the digital age. What were once novel ideas of police reconnaissance and information gathering in The Wire have become standard fare. Understanding when this information gathering crosses over into invasions of privacy and entrapment is a fundamental necessity of the courts, lest the justice system be brought into disrepute. Specifically, what this commentary seeks to discuss is the discourse on e
Scales of Justice: Rehabilitation and Accountability
In an effort to reduce the over representation of Indigenous people in the penal system the courts have approached sentencing with a restorative justice mentality. The goal of restorative justice is to promote rehabilitation and reintegration of the offender into society, which often leads to no or reduced time in jail. The movement towards restorative justice places the court in the precarious position of balancing the rehabilitative needs of the offender with holding the of
