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Canada is perceived as a very peaceful country that protects its citizens with appropriate laws and legal processes. However, after researching sexual assault in Canada, that statement seems preposterous. To third world countries, this would be true, although this is not the case for those who are accustomed to living in a first world environment. The world tends to consider Canada to be one of the most progressive countries, but this cannot be when we are still deprived of the justice system we claim to have; today we do not have a justice system, we have a legal system. An answer to the question of whether or not the current state of our country’s legal process and laws involving sexual assault are effective as they could be is yet to be …show more content…
Canada’s legal system regarding this atrocity is presently insufficient to what would be adequate to ensure protection of all citizens from this monstrosity too many have suffer. Many flaws can be easily found in our legal system with regards to sexual assault by just barely scratching the surface. The sentencing of criminals guilty of this crime is pathetic, not meeting the standards we claim to maintain; this results in a domino effect that goes much further into depth than how inconsequential it may appear. Sexual harassment also plays a large role that results in the limited effectiveness of the legal system pertaining to sexual assault. The seriousness surrounding sexual harassment is immense, however it is not taken that way. Our system is designed to put victims of sexual assault in the seat of defense, accusing them and abusing their state of vulnerability. The system is belligerent to victims, treating them as if they are in the wrong. The lack of impartiality in the courts that occurs so often with this subject area is alarming, often siding with those accused far before anything is even
A non-guilty verdict in the murder trial of Bradley Barton accused of killing Cree mother of three Cindy Gladue who bled to death from an eleven centimetre internal laceration argues that the wound was the result of rough sex. Gladue known in Edmonton as a sex worker spent two night with Barton in an Edmonton hotel room in June 2011. This essay will argue the appeal that was warranted through looking firstly at feminist analyses of sexual assault and legal consent, secondly, the contexts of intersectional power relations/ interlocking oppressions such as Gladue being a women from a Cree nationality who works as a sex worker, thirdly the problematic notion of Gladue being the bearer
This case is about a lawsuit filed by an RCMP Corporal Catherine Galliford who alleged that her senior officers had sexually harassed her and she received numerous sexual advances from many senior officers since the time she graduated. Cpl. Catherine Galliford has been a prominent spokesperson for RCMP in some of the significant cases like Air-India bombings and revealing the arrest of Robert William Pickton, a serial killer. This case talks about how women are subjected to harassments in all forms of mental, physical and sexual in work places irrespective of the sector they work in. This paper also talks about loop holes which the organization takes advantage of and shy’s away from addressing the problem fearing public outrage and
Wrongful conviction is an issue that has plagued the Canadian Justice System since it came to be. It is an issue that is hard to sort out between horrific crimes and society’s desire to find truth and justice. Incidences of wrongful conviction hit close to home right here in Saskatchewan as well as across the entire nation. Experts claim “each miscarriage of justice, however, deals a blow to society’s confidence in the legal justice system” (Schmalleger, Volk, 2014, 131). Professionals in the criminal justice field such as police, forensic analyst, and prosecutors must all be held accountable for their implications in wrongful convictions. There are several reasons for wrongful convictions such as racial bias, false confessions, jailhouse informants, eyewitness error, erroneous forensic science, inappropriate, professional and institutional misconduct and scientific limitations that society possessed prior to the technological revolution (Roberts, Grossman, 2012, 253 – 259). The introduction of more advanced DNA analysis has been able to clear names and prevent these incidences from occurring as often. As well as the formation of foundations such as The Association of Defense for the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). Unfortunately, mistakes made in the Canadian Justice System have serious life altering repercussions for everyone that is involved. Both systematic and personal issues arise that require deeper and more intense analysis.
Sexual assault is the act of sexual intercourse without consent of the other person according to New South Wales Consolidation Act of 1900 (Austlii 2011) and is also described by the Australian Standard Offence Classification as ‘non-consensual’ acts or intents of sexual nature (ASOC 2008, p. 31) has become one of the most predominate crimes creating social harm in Australia. Social harm is defined as the negative influence through consequences impacting from the individual to the living conditions of the surrounding public (Cain & Howe 2008, p. 26). Sexual assault poses a social threat to all aspects of community, spreading insecurity in the 9000 victims across Australia and 1900 victims in NSW alone as indicated in the Australian Bureau of Statistics Crime Victimisation Report (ABS 2011, p. 40). This is supported by the victimization rate of all sexually assaulted victims between ages 10 to 14 being 4 times greater than all the other age groups (ABS 2010). Another major issue within the boundaries of sexual assault is that it holds one of the lowest prosecution rates with only 1 in 10 incidents able to prosecute the offender as guilty (Fitzgerald 2006, Pg. 1). The abundance of statistics and reports conducted all imply that sexual assault is still a predominate issue of crime within Australia.
Maidment, M. (2009). When justice is a game: Unravelling wrongful convictions in Canada. Canada: Fernwood Publishing.
According to RAINN, (2009) approximately 10 per cent of all victims of sexual assault and abuse are adult and juvenile males. In terms of the nature of assault, real figures include a compendium of reported incidents ranging from unwanted sexual touching to forced penetration. To qualify this statement, it must be understood that the percentage does not reflect a vast number of crimes that go unreported due to issues that will be discussed in the present paper.
Bopp, J., & Bopp, M. 2007. Responding to sexual abuse: Developing a community-based sexual abuse response team in Aboriginal communities. Ottawa: Solicitor General of Canada, pp. 45-49
The article Marginalization and Wrongful Convictions, discusses issues with Canadian criminal justice system that has led to wrongful convictions. This problem seems to be more complex than just human errors. (Anderson, 2009: 7) Wrongful convictions closely contribute to the practice of the Adversarial Legal Processes, bureaucratic and professional wrongdoings, “tunnel vision,” and social inequality. ( )Wrongful convictions harm innocent people, traumatize them and undermine their healthy relationships with their loved ones.
Welsh et al. (2006) used data from the research focus groups of Canadian women to discuss the issue of sexual harassment among Canadian women and how the white Canadian women, who are mostly heterosexual, define sexual harassment and rape (objective) versus how the women of color define their experience of rape and sexual harassment in workplace (subjective). According to Welsh et al. (2006), he discussed how race, gender and citizenship are important factors in how Women of color with and without citizenship right define sexual harassment and rape. Sometimes as race and sometimes sees it as an experience they will pass through at some point or the other in their lives and most times they failed to report because of their legal statues, fear, pity, guilt, love, ignorance, lack of education. He also discussed how they fail to pay attention to the interlocking aspect of race and citizenship and how the legal system failed to give as much attention to the few reported case of rape by women of color because of their passed sexual history. While on the other hand, the white Canadian Woman defines her experience of rape and harassment not as a race but as what the author failed to discuss. The white Canadian woman knows when the boundary is crossed and most times do not contemplate to express her legal rights.
Canada is viewed as being a very safe and stable place to live because people are lucky enough to have healthcare, benefits for unemployment and family needs, as well as maternity leave. Crime is something that Canadians don’t often think about because people feel as though they are out of harm's way. As Canadians, we’ve watched the world experience different threats and crime, and we’ve seen the world fight back. For example, our neighbors in North America, the United States, have gone through terrorist attacks and issues with guns and violence. Just because we are witnessing these things in other places doesn’t mean that we aren’t at risk as well, and Canada does have certain approaches and regards in place if we are ever in danger. What I wish to address in this paper is how Canada is set up for reacting to crime and jeopardy, as well as an example of where we went wrong in our past. Methods in response to crime, Canada’s legal regime and the issue of Residential schooling for Aboriginals a hundred years ago will be presented.
Sexual assault is defined as a type of behaviour that occurs without explicit consent from the recipient and under sexual assault come various categories such as sexual activities as forces sexual intercourse, incest, fondling, attempted rape and more (Justice.gov. 2017). People often become victims of sexual assault by someone they know and trust (Mason & Lodrick, 2013) which is conflicting to the public’s perception and beliefs that offenders are strangers. Women are the main victims for sexual assault and are 5 times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault from a male (Wright, 2017, p. 93). Men are victims of sexual assault however only 0.7% of men, compared to 3.2% of women, experience some form of sexual assault which highlights how vulnerable women are compared to men. Sexual assault is publicised and exposed in the media, however is often
On April 15th, almost 300 girls were kidnapped from their school in Nigeria. Less than two weeks later, a young women was stabbed in the face, throat and stomach by her classmate in a Connecticut high school And a month later, Elliot Rodger went on a killing rampage in California. All three of these tragedies, all in the span of a month, occurred because women didn’t do what men wanted them to do and they refused to accept women as equals. The kidnapped Nigerian girls were to be sold and traded, the girl was stabbed because she declined his invitation to the junior prom, and Elliot Rodger went on a killing rampage because girls wouldn’t have sex with him. It is believed we live in a sexual-discrimination free society here in Canada, but that is far from the truth. Equality between men and women has yet to be obtained. Women are often considered like objects, similar situations by both genders are viewed differently and women aren’t treated the same as men in the workplace. It is not only third-world countries, but also our Canadian society that doesn’t treat men and women as equals.
For many centuries the crime of sexual violence has been perceived as a gendered crime of power mostly victimizing women. The legal system, at least in theory, puts rape to be a punishable crime, nonetheless when rape cases are brought before the law they are hit with the allegation of the ‘rape myth’, the victim’s legitimacy is continuously questioned and the defense party is given the power to undermine the victim’s story. Not only the victims of such horrendous offences are stripped off their right to justice; they are revictimized and mistreated in the courtroom and society if they are not seen to fit the category of the ‘ideal victim’. The neglect of rape cases before the law has led victims of this offence to become unwilling to report the incident causing sexual assault to become the most underreported crime in our criminal justice system. This issue has therefore become one of the main focuses of the feminist theory, which attempts to understand the criminal justice system’s discrimination and misuse of power against women.
17, 700, 000 women have reported sexual assault since 1998. That’s 17, 700, 000 reports too many. You see, we live in a society where women are taught to be careful not to get raped instead of men being taught not to rape. Where “rape culture” is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women’s rights and safety. Where we trivialize sexual assault by saying “boys will be boys” and tell women that they should take it as a compliment. Where when you’re a female, especially in the tech industry, speaking out about sexual harassment is like dropping a nuclear bomb on your career. And when a female
Sexual assault is an offense that plagues many U.S. citizens. Although some studies show that rape is on the decline, other studies report that the phenomena actually occuring is that less rape victims are reporting the crime. In fact, approximately 68% of sexual assaults go unreported to the police according to the U.S. Department of Justice in a National Crime Victimization Survey from 2008-2012. It is common knowledge that rape victims are usually severely traumatized after the event, which leaves them susceptible to various emotions such as shame, anxiety, numbness, fear, denial, and guilt. Because of this, many rape victims decide to repress their experience and let it go unheard. However, not only does this prevent them from healing emotionally,