This 3-credit seminar will utilize a multisectoral approach to encourage critical thinking with a view of challenging preconceived notions about what prison is and why it exists. It is designed to provide students with not only a basis to understand the theories underlying the carceral state, but also the practical skills necessary to navigate prison law and advocate on behalf of those on the inside.
Students will hear from and engage in discussion with prisoners, legal practitioners, prison officials, and academics with expertise in (de)carceration. Readings, videos, and audio recordings will also be used to learn about the history and ideology behind prisons and punishment in Canada.
This seminar will examine the legislation that empowers governments to create and maintain prison systems, as well as the regulations, directives and policies which guide the day-to-day operations. It will also review jurisprudence from all levels of court on issues such as:
· solitary confinement;
· prisoners’ right to vote;
· habeas corpus remedies;
· tort actions and civil litigation against correctional officials;
· international prisoner transfers;
· conditional release;
· prison abolition; and
· labour (union) organizing among prisoner populations.
Independent audits, coroner’s inquests, and other inquiries into jails and prisons will also feature prominently.
An introduction to the techniques of trial advocacy in civil and criminal trials. Consideration is given to pre-trial preparation and case analysis, opening and closing statements, examination and cross-examination of witnesses, evidence issues, expert evidence, tactical questions and ethical issues that confront the trial lawyer. Students perform simulation exercises in small groups under the critical guidance of experienced trial lawyers and Judges. Students conduct 1/2 day jury trials with two-student counsel acting on each side of the case. Trials are presided by Judges of either the Ontario Court of Justice or the Superior Court of Justice.
In this seminar we will explore sentencing law and procedure in Canada. The course will begin with a consideration of the concept of punishment and the philosophical dimensions of sentencing, including an exploration of the purposes and principles of sentencing. The remainder of the course will be devoted to exploring the legal doctrine that governs sentencing and imprisonment in Canada and legislative and judicial approaches to sentencing. More specifically, we will consider the various sentencing options available in Canadian law, the procedural and substantive aspects of sentencing hearings and the interplay of sentencing and plea negotiations. Particular attention will be paid to the sentencing of Indigenous peoples and racialized individuals. Other topics for consideration may include Charter litigation and sentencing, the sentencing of individuals with mental disorders and victim participation in sentencing.
In this seminar students will learn the substantive and procedural aspects of regulatory offences, or public welfare or quasi-criminal offences as they are sometimes called. The course has a practical focus, examining matters that arise before courts, administrative tribunals, regulators and law enforcement agencies. Seminar topics will include: the classification of regulatory offences, evidence gathering techniques, the application of the Charter of Rights, and the unique nature of strict liability prosecutions, including the operation of the due diligence defence. Sentencing considerations and proposals for reform will be canvassed as well.
Was NATO’s military intervention in Libya legal? What about Afghanistan? Or the imprisonment of America’s detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba? Is Russia’s military overrun of Ukraine lawful? What is the legal status of killing by drones? What happens to people who commit war crimes? What are the remedies for an illegal war? This seminar examines the international law governing war, including both questions of when war is legal (so-called ‘jus ad bellum’) and how even legal wars must be conducted (so-called ‘jus in bello’ or the laws and customs of war) and the relationship between the two types of law. It also examines the various judicial institutions that have jurisdiction over these issues, from the World Court, to the ad hoc tribunals (Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone), to national courts exercising ‘universal jurisdiction’ (Belgium, Canada), to the new International Criminal Court.
Case studies on the armed conflicts over Kosovo, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, Ukraine, and between Israel and the Palestinians, provide the settings for concrete legal analysis and also for critical evaluation of the role of law in war.
Taught by two Superior Court Judges, formerly experienced members of the criminal bar, this seminar explores how racial inequality and in particular anti-black racism are addressed in Canadian criminal law through a critical review of landmark cases and selected secondary scholarly literature.
Students will consider how advocates have worked to bring claims of racism to the courts. The class will assess the extent to which courts have addressed claims of racism, whether systemic or individual, in their interpretation of various fundamental procedural, evidentiary and Charter areas of criminal law. How has recognition of this particular piece of “social context” been integrated into judicial decision-making and criminal procedure?
Students will study key parts of the criminal trial process from start to finish including bail, jury selection, Charter and common law motions, and sentencing.
By the end of the course students will be:
i) familiar with a set of contemporary cases in which questions about of race and racism intersect with issues in criminal procedure, sections 7, 8, 9, 24(2) of the Charter, evidence and sentencing.
ii) capable of critically analyzing the responses of the Canadian criminal justice system to claims of racism, whether systemic racism or particular incidents of racially targeted state action.
iii) able to develop effective approaches to anti racist advocacy suitable for use in Canadian criminal court.
Class discussions and assignments will work to bring together theory and practice in assessing and developing anti racist advocacy in the criminal law context.
Specific topics covered include:
· Identifying race and racism as part of context, and how this does/should impact legal interpretation;
· Identifying the relevance of race/racism for the parties involved; and
· Identifying the opportune time to raise the issue
Guest speakers with expertise in a relevant area will periodically visit the class.
The seminar will begin to develop in students the skills necessary to become effective litigators. That objective will be achieved both by enhancing students’ understanding of the law of evidence and also by assisting students to acquire the skills of factual analysis that are the stock and trade of trial lawyers. While doing so, the seminar will also afford students a unique opportunity to reflect on the litigation process and critically analyse how cases are constructed.
In this seminar, students will learn by doing. Materials from an actual murder case will provide the focus of in-class exercises. Excerpts from a documentary film involving that very same case, which chronicles the actual prosecution from start to finish, will supplement these exercises.
Although the in-class exercises and the take-home assignment will involve criminal cases, the skills developed will be equally valuable to those interested in civil litigation.
WARNING: The materials used both in the seminar and in the take-home assignment are from actual cases involving violent crimes – they are graphic and disturbing. Therefore, if you suspect that you may have difficulty being exposed to such materials, you should refrain from enrolling in this seminar
Our criminal justice system is built on the foundational dictum that it is better that ten guilty people escape than one innocent person suffer. This course examines this premise and its application in the Canadian criminal justice system. Students will critically assess the meaning of innocence in the context of wrongful convictions and how wrongful convictions are currently identified. Students will then examine the top ten causes of wrongful convictions in Canada, including police misconduct, prosecutorial misconduct, false confessions, unsavoury witnesses, faulty experts, junk science, pre-trial detention, ineffective assistance of counsel, and more.
Each week will involve a case study of a person who was exonerated by Innocence Canada, with a critical analysis of the failures of the criminal justice system that led to that wrongful conviction. Students will then assess how the justice system has responded to those failures and whether current procedures are adequate to protect against similar wrongful convictions in the future. Students will conclude the course by examining current issues in the criminal justice system that have the potential to cause wrongful convictions.
While Evidence and Criminal Procedure are not strict pre-requisites, it is highly recommended that students have either completed those courses or be taking them concurrently with this course. It will be extremely difficult to complete this course without a foundational understanding of the rules of evidence and the law governing criminal procedure. This course will not teach those foundational concepts and will assume that students are familiar with them and able to critically examine and apply them.
This course will provide students with an overview of the Canadian criminal process, with a special attention given to the limitations imposed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It will begin with an exploration of police investigative powers. The authority of Canadian police to search/seize, question, detain, and arrest will all be considered in detail. The exclusion of unconstitutionally obtained evidence, as well as the availability of other constitutional remedies, will also be addressed. The course will then shift to a consideration of the criminal process after charges are formally brought, including intake procedures, bail, disclosure, plea, plea bargaining, prosecutorial discretion, and the right to a trial within a reasonable time. If time allows, some trial and post-trial issues may be considered, including jury selection, res judicata, and appeals. Throughout, various theoretical perspectives on criminal law and process will be discussed. The course will also seek to introduce key historical connections and important points of comparison between criminal procedure in Canada and the United States, primarily in terms of their constitutional regulation, as well as with the common law of England.
This course will introduce students to the law of evidence in Canada. It will examine how the common law, statutes, and the Constitution interact to govern the proof of facts in both civil and criminal trials. Topics to be addressed include: burdens of proof; the role of the trial judge in managing the introduction of evidence; methods of presenting evidence; witness competency and compellability; relevance; and the various exclusionary rules that operate to limit the kinds of proof that can be received at trial (i.e. the rules governing hearsay, privilege, expert opinion evidence, etc.). The course will engage ethical issues that arise in the context of evidence law. It will consider how some rules of evidence have evolved historically, and it will attend to the social, political, and institutional contexts in which evidence law operates. The course will encourage critical reflection on the theories, purposes, and justifications that animate evidentiary rules, and on how those rules impact different individuals and communities.
To prepare for each class, students will be asked to view pre-recorded lectures and/or complete assigned readings. Class time will be dedicated to further lectures, discussions, and practice exercises. Students will also complete 10 short online (eClass) exercises outside of class time, designed to help reinforce the material as the semester progresses. Those exercises will be graded on a complete/incomplete basis, for up to 5% of the course grade. All students will write the same sit-down final examination. Students may elect to complete an optional assignment (case comments), which will reduce the total value of the final examination from 95% to 75%. The optional assignment will include written and oral components. The oral component will take the form of individual discussions with the instructor.