Canadian Criminal Justice System

‘A Peacemaking Approach to Criminology’ was written by Louis J. Gesualdi, and published in 2013. It contains a review of different writings, which relate to criminology. The main argument of Gesualdi lies in promoting a humane way of handling crime and deviants. The book proposes a peaceable way of dealing with offenders in a manner that accords respect to human rights. Further, Gesualdi notes that the criminal justice system is concentrated on inflicting harm on the offenders by punishing them. He argues that the system is fixated on the notion of reacting to crime rather than prevention. Hence, the book proposes an approach where restorative justice and prevention of crime can be accommodated in the criminal justice system. The main

The aspect of the Canadian justice system that this article relates to is obviously policing/ law enforcement. Specifically this article goes into the regulations of policing as Ontario police officers now have to follow stricter regulations when stopping any member of the public. This is important in relation to the Canadian justice system as police officers stopping citizens is considered a controversial issue as people feel random stops or carding are considered arbitrary, and unnecessary, and this violates section 9 of the charter of rights and freedoms which states that “everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned”. (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) and Carding is “A practice by which officers stop, question,

James Dignan’s concepts related to offenders, but mostly, related to victims. In his work “The victim in restorative justice” (2007), he argues that restorative justice “has a tendency to focus primarily on offenders and reconviction rates rather than on victim-related concerns” (p.309). Dignan goes on explaining that only after Braithwaite’s theory became more developed in Australia and New Zealand, the role of victims became clearer (Dignan, 2007). He says that there are beneficial distinctions between reciprocal benefits and one-sided benefits, depending on the interaction of the

The Criminal Justice System has many components that make it up. There are many differences and similarities between Canada and America like the culture, religion, and governments. Some of the main differences and similarities being the Criminal Justice System. The Criminal Justice System is the law that is related to arresting, sentencing and punishing people if found guilty with jail time, probation, or community service. In this research paper, I will be stating some of the main differences and similarities between the Canadian and American Judicial System.

The Canadian Criminal Justice System is a system that is rooted in fairness, justice, and equality. It does not discriminate against religion, sex, or race, and it is governed by the rule of equity. All this would suggest that the Canadian Criminal Justice System is one that Canadians can have faith in, knowing that the system will protect everyone: society from the criminals, and innocent people from wrongful incarceration. It is interesting, then, that Canadians actually have quite little faith in the system; a study done by Ipsos-Reid for Justice Canada revealed that “only 17 per cent of respondents had high confidence, while 61 per cent had moderate faith and 22 per cent had low level of trust [in the adult criminal justice system]… and only 15 per cent had a high level, 56 per cent had a moderate level and 30 per cent have low confidence [in the youth justice system].” (Harris) It is through cases such as the Steven Truscott case, the Coffin case, and the Karla Homolka case that Canadian faith in the Justice System weakens, cases where the two former individuals were wrongfully convicted of their charges, and where the latter was given a lenient sentence.

The Criminal Justice System [in Canada] aims to “deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent” (Garside, 2008), however, this definition curated by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies is inherently vague and does not encompass numerous vital aspects associated with the criminal justice system. A key component in the institutional structure of the criminal justice system is the involvement and integration of the government. In Canada, the government openly plays an integral role in the formations of policies, regulations, and procedures within the justice system, however, policies, regulations and procedures that are not directly linked to the criminal

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

Restorative justice is a system of criminal justice that emphasizes the rehabilitation of offenders through mending ties with the victims and the community. A better explanation of restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include everyone involved. This can lead to transformation of people, relationships and communities.

Restorative justice is a very complex process in the justice system. It is a positive program that helps in the aid of victims of crimes. The process for restorative justice is broken down into steps which map out how the process should take place. According to Johnstone, “Restorative justice is the theory that justice aids the victim and emphasizes the repair of harm caused by unjust or harmful behavior.” In my opinion the restorative justice process is a great accomplishment to the justice system. Restorative justice does not always work as intended but the theory of which it is intended for is enough to be improved upon.

Crime as explained by Howard Zehr as “a violation of a person by another person” (Zehr 182). When justice is to be applied in a restorative method, it seeks to identify the larger needs and obligations; it addresses the victim-offender relationship, as well as focuses on problem solving of current and future intensions

The government guarantees everyone due process as it believes that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. The justice system’s work is to ensure that laws are enforced in order to provide peaceful dispute settlement and order in the society. The Canadian legal system is based on a heritage of rule of law, freedom under the law, democratic principles and due process. (Daniel C. Préfontaine & Joanne Lee 1998) While there exists attacks on the judiciary from the media with the relationship between the media and the judiciary becoming particularly strained in recent democratic societies, because greater access to technology and the constitutional right to freedom of expression have allowed the media to have an increasingly visible role especially in criminal trials (D. C. Préfontaine & J. Lee 1998 and G. Antonacci, 2013) for failure to uphold rule of law especially in dealing with First Nations people, this paper will seek to explain how enforcement of the rule of law and due process supports the concept of justice in this

Restorative justice is not a complete new phenomenon. Similar principles can be recognised in the Anglo-Saxon law, and even earlier such as Roman Law or the Code of Hammurabi c. 2000 BC (D van Ness). Also, it resembles with system of justice practiced in the Aboriginal and Native American communities, but with time, societies have turned away from this kind of practice, later coming back to it as seen in the last decades. Restorative justice has emerged as an alternative to retributive penal system; it offers a change of perspective to the classic system of justice, thus building on the premise of a participatory approach in resolving conflict and repairing the harm. The new penal philosophy assumes that all parties should be involved in the response to crime, the victim, offender and the community. Under this philosophy criminal liability is based on understanding the harm and the damages that the offender produced.

The criminal justice system is a set of agencies and processes established by governments to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate laws. Different jurisdictions have diverse laws, agencies, and ways of managing criminal justice processes. In recent years, it has been debated that the criminal justice system has two primary and possibility conflicting perspectives known as the retributive justice approach and the restorative justice approach. Retributive justice and restorative justice have contrasting approaches when imposing punishment, that will be explored within this research paper, in regards to the disadvantages and potential advantages resulting from the implementation of it’s polices within the criminal justice system. These two perspectives have been implemented amongst many different criminal justice systems internationally, however the questions still remain, what is justice? And how should justice be served? This debate has created a divide between countries, due to the differing interpretations of justice and it’s response to criminal activity. The statistical information has been extracted from various online sources listed within the references as well as primary and secondary sources, “Prisons” by Haley, James and “Alternatives to Prisons” by Jennifer Skancke.

In the units covered in this second part of the reflection report, I learnt a lot about the Canadian criminal justice process. There are set rules that guides the justice system and these rules are also followed when conducting investigations and convicting or releasing an accused. The ‘Vision Impact Statement’ gave me an insight on how victims are sometimes treated by the law. We normally hear news about various cases but we actually do not know what victims go through just to get justice. While the law tries to involve victims in investigations, victims’ testimonies are still influenced. This made me understand why people sometimes don’t want to go to court as they see it as a waste of time and money. I never knew some lawyers were manipulative as I always seen them as the perfect solution when it comes to court cases. It added to my knowledge of how the justice system

The fictional movie, … And Justice For All, by Norman Jewison shows many different aspects of social justice along with different social theories that are expressed throughout the movie. In addition to this key players also demonstrate these aspects not only in the court system, but outside the court system. Some key forms of justice are retributive, transformative, and restorative justice, along with real world situations, and different aspects of criminal justice theorists.