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The criminal justice system in canada
The criminal justice system in canada
The criminal justice system in canada
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The Canadian justice system is unique in the world. Two official languages (English and French) and two legal traditions (common law and civil law) co-exist within our system of justice. As Canadians, we are all responsible for understanding our rights and freedoms and our duties as members of society. Courts resolve disputes, and in doing so, they interpret and establish the law for all Canadians. Quebec is the only province with a civil code, which is based on the French Code Napoléon (Napoleonic Code). The rest of Canada uses the common law. The Criminal Code is also considered a code, and it is used throughout Canada. There are basically four levels of court in Canada. First there are provincial/territorial courts, which handle the great majority of cases that come into the system. Second are the provincial/territorial superior courts. These courts deal with more serious crimes and also take appeals from provincial/territorial court judgments. On the same level, but responsible for different issues, is the Federal Court. At the next level are the provincial/territorial courts of appeal and the Federal Court of Appeal, while the highest level is occupied by the Supreme Court of Canada. …show more content…
The main distinction here is that civil law governs relationships between individuals, while criminal law governs relationships between individuals and the state, or Crown, which represents all Canadians.
Combined with the previous definition of ‘civil law’ above, the term can be more than a little confusing. The Justice Canada website further clarifies: “In its other sense, civil law refers to matters of private law as opposed to public law, and particularly criminal law, which is concerned with harm to society at large. It is usually clear from the context which type of civil law is intended.” Only the federal government has the ability to make criminal laws. The federal, provincial, and territorial courts all have the power to make civil laws. Legal
structure Canada’s legal system is divided into three tiers. The government makes and administers the laws through its executive (Cabinet), legislative (Parliament) and judicial (courts) branches. The process of making laws starts with the Cabinet, or ruling party, which then presents the legislation to Parliament — composed of the House of Commons and Senate — for debate and approval. The final step involves the Governor General, or Queen’s representative, who must give the bill official “assent.” The same process applies provincially, but the Queen’s representative is called the Lieutenant Governor. Parliament can make laws for all Canada, but only about matters assigned to it by the Constitution. A provincial or territorial legislature, likewise, can make laws only about matters over which it has been assigned jurisdiction. This means these laws apply only within the province’s borders. The government usually makes laws related to issues that apply to all Canadians, including constitutional rights, crime, aboriginal rights, national defense, trade, and patents. The provinces handle laws concerning education, property, civil rights, and the administration of justice, hospitals, municipalities, and other matters of a regional importance. The Constitution Act, a successor to the British North America Act of 1867, establishes Canada’s dual legal system and enshrines the provinces’ jurisdictional rights over property and civil, or private, rights. Once a law is enacted, it’s the role of the judiciary — judges who preside over cases in the courts — to interpret and apply it. While judges can’t make their own laws, their decisions can create legal precedents — a new way to interpret the law for future cases.
The Canadian justice system, although much evolved, is having difficulty eliminating bias from the legal system. Abdurahman Ibrahim Hassan, a 39 year old man, died on June 11 in a Peterborough hospital, while under immigration detention. He came to Canada in 1993 as a refugee and was suffering from mental, and physical health issues such as diabetes and bipolar disorder. There was an overwhelming amount of secrecy surrounding the death of this troubled Toronto man, and to this day no light has been shed on this tragedy. (Keung, 2015) An analysis of the official version of the law will reveal how race class and gender coincide with the bias within the legal system.
The next important principle of the Canadian Constitution is the judicial review. The judicial review is the power of the executive branch of government (Dyck 12). Essentially, the judicial review states that any law that the government makes, can be struck down by the Supreme Court if it violates the Canadian Constitution (Dyck 401). This is a prime example how the judicial review protects the rights of
The Canadian Justice system is run like a well-oiled machine. It is based on the fair and humane treatment of suspects who remain innocent until proven guilty. There is one big question that has been debated since July 14th, 1976 - should the death penalty have been abolished in Canada? The new younger generation of Canadians seems to agree with me that the death penalty should be resurrected in Canada.
the Canadian justice system(Brizinski,1993,395) it has over and over again been stated that the present justice system has and is failing Aboriginal people. It is not suited for their cultural needs and does nothing to rehabilitate offenders but rather does the offender more harm then good. It does not address the underlying conditions causing criminal behavior or in assessing what specific needs must be addressed to rehabilitate.
trial of two men for the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas Manitoba.
The Canadian Criminal Justice System is, for the most part, reflective of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and various Supreme Court of Canada case-law. Everyone who finds themselves on the opposing end of the Criminal Justice System is entitled to certain protections every step of the way, beginning even before the arrest; laws protect us from unreasonable investigative techniques, guarantee certain rights at point of arrest, and provide us with the right to counsel. The bail court departs from the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard in that the crown only needs to prove on a balance of probabilities (Kellough, 1996, p. 175) in order to take away a person’s freedom. It is for this reason I decided to limit the scope of my observations to the bail court. What I found is a systemic evidence of a two-tier justice system. In this essay, I will outline the roles of the 'regular players' of the bail court and demonstrate how the current bail process essentially transforms the Canadian Criminal Justice System into a two-tier system where the affluent and powerful are able to receive preferential treatment over the poor.
The symbol of the Canadian judicial system is the balanced scales of justice. When a wrongful act is committed, the scales of justice are greatly misplaced and require a solution to counterbalance the crime and restore balance. Additionally, the scales represent the idea that law should be viewed objectively and the determination of innocence should be made without bias. The Canadian criminal justice system encapsulates the idea of the scale of justice, to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate the law. One of the most important aspects of this system is that an individual charged with a criminal offence is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The current system has two prevailing methods involved in the process of dealing with crime: Retributive and restorative justice. This paper will analyze aspects of retributive justice and restorative justice, with reference to their respective philosophies, for the purpose of finding which is more effective at achieving justice and maintaining balance.
In response, the court system for many years has tried to formulate the policies that will address the issue of public confidence. In the Roberts’ article, it is suggested that even though a slight majority of Canadians have trust in the justice system, the citizens seem to have more faith in institutions other than in the courts (159). This difference is mainly because of the perception that the public has on the justice system in regards to its practices (Roberts 164). The public appears dissatisfied with some practices of the court leading to decreased confidence in the system. For instance, most Canadians feel that the justice system failed to reduce crime in the country. Instead, they argue that it is among the primary causes of increased crime rate (Roberts 164). Most citizens claim that allowing a guilty person walk free is worse off when compared to convicting an innocent one (Roberts 171). Boosting public confidence is, thus, critical to improving the criminal judge. Apparently, this can be accomplished as mentioned by Anthony N. Doob in the article, increased engagement of an ordinary citizen in the courts is needed,
Within the legal system, there is the Canadian criminal justice system, which is meant to guarantee the safety of citizens within the country and is used to sustain social control and deliver justice for a society. The criminal justice system is made up of many components that are constructed to ensure justice for victims of crimes along with criminals. It is designed to guarantee that punishing those who are guilty will protect the innocent. Within the criminal justice system, there is a document that consists of all the jurisdictions of criminal law. This document is called the criminal code and entitles the offences that are acknowledged in the jurisdiction along with consequences that are enforced for these crimes. Throughout the years, there are offences constantly being added to the Criminal Code of Canada and many proposals being made by the Law Reform Commission of Canada.
Now, the district court system is the beginning step of the judicial system. A good amount of the case handled by the district court system is either criminal or civil trial cases. According to Roger Miller, “trial courts that have general jurisdiction as to the subject matter may be called county, district, superior, or circuit courts.” The majority of their cases are to be handled in-county first before proceeding further through the court system. Just as businesses and organizations have a chain-of-command or protocol system the government has the
The Canadian justice system is organized into the police, courts and prisons (Goff, 2013, p.295). When a crime is committed it is up to the justice system to insure that justice is served.
Canada has a central government designed to deal with the country as a whole. Things like national defense, banking, currency, and commerce are controlled by the central government. All other matters are left to the provinces to deal with. Such as education, hospitals, and civil rights are responsibilities of the states. The Canadian Parliament consists of two houses. Their Senate is made up of 104 members who serve until the age of seventy-five.
Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada, "Lavoiev. Canada (C.A.)." Last modified April 3, 2012. Accessed April 5, 2012. http://reports.fja.gc.ca/eng/2000/2000fc24525.html.
... Supreme Court of Justice (formerly known as the House of Lords). Courts that are considered as higher courts in the hierarchy of courts would be the Court of Appeal and the High Court.
Criminal and Civil Law – Criminal law is the law through which public commitment of crimes are prosecuted by governing bodies, whereas civil law is the law through which private parties may bring lawsuits against one another for real or imagined wrongdoings. E.g. criminal law would deal with the prosecution of a crime such as one person hitting another with their car, and civil law would deal with the lawsuit, as the person hit would sue the driver of the car for monetary compensation.