Colin Wood – Osgoode Hall Law School

Dissertation Title

The Inertia of the Prison: A Socio-Legal Inquiry into the Persistence of Canadian Carcerality

Dissertation Topic

The prison, both as idea and institution, has become inseparable from the modern Canadian social democratic state. It has also become a perpetual source of intolerable abuses and violations of basic norms of human decency. Yet it endures, even amid renewed questions about its utility raised by COVID-19 and intense scrutiny of the racial injustices of the criminal legal system. In this project, I ask: what does the prison serve and what accounts for its resilience? This research project seeks to explain the apparent inextricability of the prison from the prevailing social democratic order through a close examination of its history, and its relation to legal, political, social and economic orders. The project will consist of three elements: (1) a legal history of penal institutions, theory & reform in Canada from 1835 to present; (2) a case study looking closely at debates around prison construction and expansion in Ontario from 1980 to the present; and (3) a critical analysis of the prison’s place in present day Canada and the insights the history offers for disentangling the democratic state from carceral punishment.

Education

LLM - Columbia Law School, 2020

JD - University of Windsor, 2015

BSc - University of Toronto, 2012

Teaching Experience

Team Lecturer, Legal Process I (LAW1300) - Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (2021-22; 2020-21)

Professional Experience

Barrister & Solicitor (Criminal Law, Legal Research & Drafting) (2018-21)

Decision Editor, Ontario College of Teachers (2018-19)

Associate Lawyer, Criminal Defence (2017-18)

Law Clerk, Court of Appeal for Ontario (2016-17)

Law Clerk, Superior Court of Justice (Ontario) (2015-16)

Awards

Nathanson Graduate Fellowship, Nathanson Centre, Osgoode Hall Law School (2021-22; 2020-21)
Hon. Willard Estey Teaching Fellowship, Osgoode Hall Law School (2020-21)
York Doctoral Fellowship (2020-Present)
Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Columbia Law School (2020)
Dean’s Honours, Climate Change Law and Policy, Columbia Law School (2020)
Law Society of Upper Canada / Osgoode Society Award of Excellence, University of Windsor (2015)
Judge Bruce J.S. MacDonald Award in Criminal Advocacy, University of Windsor (2015)
Jacques Law Writing Prize, University of Windsor (2015)

Publications

Justice Steve Coroza & Colin Wood, “Issues in Jury Selection and Management: A Practitioner’s Guide” (Paper delivered in conference materials at The Six Minute Criminal Court Judge 2020, Law Society of Ontario, 25 January 2020).
Colin Wood, “Jordan’s Role in Extinguishing Adversarialism: A Comparative Perspective”, (2019) 40:1 For The Defence 26.
Justice Steve Coroza & Colin Wood, “Issues in Jury Selection and Management: A Practitioner’s Guide” (Paper delivered in conference materials at The Six Minute Criminal Court Judge 2018, Law Society of Ontario, 27 January 2018).
Justice Steve Coroza & Colin Wood, “Issues in Jury Selection” (Paper delivered in conference materials at The Six Minute Criminal Court Judge 2016, Law Society of Upper Canada, 23 January 2016).
Colin Wood, “The Inflexible Stay of Proceedings: Alternative Remedies for Charter Section 11(b) Breaches”, (2016) 2 Windsor Rev Legal Soc Issues—Digital Companion 80.

Presentation

“TSA in the Booking Hall: The Dangers of Police Deployment of Full-Body Scanners” (Draft paper presented at Law and Society Association annual conference, Washington, DC, 1 June 2019).
“The Inflexible Stay of Proceedings: Alternative Remedies for Charter Section 11(b) Breaches” (Paper presented at 8th Annual Canadian Law Student Conference, Windsor, ON, 13 March 2015).