On Scapegoats, Invented Gangsters and the Travesty of a Jury Doing its Job Properly

“Score two for the gangs of Toronto: Those who shoot little boys dead and those sworn to uphold the law.” This is the pithy opening of the Star column titled “Cops, gangs and the codes of silence that undermine justice” [http://goo.gl/oXhls] The writer likens the recent acquittal of two murder suspects to the failure of… Continue Reading →

Victims’ Rights versus Police Rights: who cares?

In murder cases and even ‘less serious’ cases of violence against a member of the community, it is common to see the family of the victim in the front row of the courtroom during the trial. Outside they will be photographed by the media and asked for comments. Sometimes family members are invited to provide… Continue Reading →

Appearing Fair with Self-Represented Accused

The report “Judge removes accused murderer from trial” exemplifies many things, including the fact that self-representation is not generally a good idea. Prior to being outright removed from his own trial, the accused’s cross-examination technique had been one of the problems facing Mr. Justice Clark [no relation to this writer]. As reported: “Mr. Kassim. Now… Continue Reading →

“In fairness to Dr. Smith..???!!!”

I while back I sent a Globe and Mail piece to Twitter as follows: In the post-Charles Smith world, justice seems tempered by fear http://t.co/1gXfMTp via @globeandmail “In fairness to Dr. Smith..???!!!” Thank goodness the Globe and Mail has now made the piece unavailable (except for subscribers to GlobePlus). The full quotation referred to was… Continue Reading →

Posted in Blog | Comments Off

Plea Bargains For ‘Less Serious’ Cases Are a Different Problem

Kirk Makin recently reported “Top jurist urges review of ‘coercive’ plea bargaining system” (Globe and Mail, Mar. 07, 2011: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/top-jurist-urges-review-of-coercive-plea-bargaining-system/article1933161/; see also http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Crime+agenda+increasing+abuse+plea+bargains/4414077/story.html) Among other things, Mr. Makin noted that “Judge Rosenberg told a weekend legal conference that plea bargaining is the result of “a big lie”: the legal system’s claim that defendants will not… Continue Reading →