tough on crime
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Way to Power
Setting the scene for understanding the Supreme Court’s decision allowing damages as a remedy for legislative violations of the Charter Continue reading
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Unusual Indeed
The trouble with a caustic, pseudo-originalist opinion of Wakeling JA Continue reading
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Counter-Rebellion
Judges of the Alberta Court of Appeal question the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on mandatory minimum sentences Continue reading
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More of the Same
Yet another “tough on crime” attempt to deny judges discretion about to be struck down Last week, the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench issued yet another in a long series of constitutional reverses for the previous federal government’s “tough on crime” agenda, holding in R v Ndhlovu, 2016 ABQB 595 that legislative amendments that rendered the making of Continue reading
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Bullshit in Sentencing
An ostensibly minimalist, and an unsatisfactory, decision from the Supreme Court In R. v. Safarzadeh-Markhali, 2016 SCC 14, decided last month, the Supreme Court stuck down a provision of the Criminal Code that prevented sentencing judges from crediting more than the time the offender actually served in pre-trial detention against the sentence imposed when the offender had been Continue reading
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Fear-Mongering
Irwin Cotler has table a private member’s bill, C-669, that would give judges the ability to reduce any mandatory minimum sentence provided by the Criminal Code in any manner that [the judge] considers just and reasonable, taking into consideration the circumstances of the offence, victim and offender, the sentencing principles set out in [the Code], and Continue reading
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Nothing Is Always Absolutely So
This morning, the Supreme Court has delivered its decision in R. v. Nur, 2015 SCC 15, striking down as “cruel and unusual,” and therefore contrary to s. 12 of the Charter, a mandatory minimum sentence for the simple possession of a restricted or prohibited firearm that is either loaded or stored with easily accessible ammunition, Continue reading
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Judge Kopf on Mandatory Minimums
At his blog Hercules and the Umpire, Richard G. Kopf, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, has a fascinating post on mandatory minimum sentences, which I would urge anyone who has been following the Canadian debate about them to read. (Indeed, this is the rare occasion on which you should Continue reading
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Bar This Claim
A couple of recent cases that the Québec Court of Appeal should consider in deciding whether to let the Barreau’s challenge to mandatory minimums go forward. Continue reading
Double Aspect 