by webrisorLiberals to Reduce Use of Mandatory Minimum Sentences
Slowly but surely, we’re beginning to see Justin Trudeau & co. undo much of the wrongs for which Harper’s Conservative government is now infamous, particularly with regards to criminal justice. One of the most contentious chapters of Harper’s “tough-on-crime” agenda was the imposition of 60 mandatory minimum sentences during their decade in power, in areas ranging from sex crimes to gun possession.
In theory, such minimal sentences were supposed to deter potential criminals. In reality, all they did was take away the judges’ discretionary powers and increase the number of Canadians behind bars.
Newly appointed Justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould had this to say on the matter:
I think that a lot of people that present themselves as offenders in the criminal justice system are there for other reasons than that they’re inherently criminal. I think our justice system has become a catch-all for the challenges and problems we face in society.
Hopefully, this new federal law will succeed in giving judges back the ability to render sentences which are individually tailored to the individual. Ideally, this should put less people in jail and promote rehabilitative measures. This should certainly make life easier for hard-working criminal attorneys, as they too will now have more freedom to negotiate better, more appropriate sentences for their clients.
If you’ve been convicted of gun possession or sex crime, call Ginzburg Legal in Montreal to speak with a criminal defense lawyer.
Ginzburg Legal
405 Rue Marie-Morin
Montréal QC
H2Y 2Y1
(514) 710-6749
by webrisorVirtual Reality Allows Jurors to Explore Crime Scenes
The jury experience, much like almost every other facet of the criminal justice system, is sadly still entrenched in the past. Technology has barely begun to make its way into modern courthouses, resulting in long delays and inefficient procedures. Crime scene reconstruction practices mainly rely on the use of photos, videos, medical records, hand-drawn sketches, and even 3D-rendered animations to give jurors an idea of exactly what went down at the scene of the crime. But the main problem with all of these tools is that, at best, they can merely offer an approximation of reality, not reality itself.
Here’s where Mehzeb Chowdhury comes in. This brilliant PhD researcher from Durham University has designed something that may just revolutionize the jury experience. Imagine someone kidnapped Wall-E the robot, locked him in a dark room, and made him watch 100,000 hours of CSI: Miami episodes. The result? Chowdhury’s brainchild: a MABMAT robotic imaging system capable of recording 360-degree HD videos while autonomously roaming a crime scene at the very moment it’s being investigated. This way, every single detail is captured, and the jury gets to see exactly what the police did at the scene of the crime.
As Chowdhury explains, his ultimate goal was to remove the bias and subjective guesswork from the courtroom:
Unlike 3D recreations, [my system] would be true representations of how things were, rather than a user-created propaganda video to sway the jury. The most-problematic aspect of crime scene visits is that, with time, every characteristic of the scene changes in some way or the other. This is called scene degradation. Years could pass between a crime being committed, and a jury scene visit, with very little remaining the same. A contemporaneous snapshot of the entire crime scene would preserve the necessary details for investigation and trial.
I, for one, would welcome this innovation. Jury trials are far from perfect, and riddled with flaws ranging from racial bias to technological limitations. Criminal attorneys already have to be very careful navigating all of these pitfalls. At the very least, adopting such a technology would help avoid crucial facts getting “lost in translation”, and could ultimately be the difference between an acquittal and a life sentence.
If you’ve been convicted of an offence, call Ginzburg Legal in Montreal to speak with a criminal lawyer.
Ginzburg Legal
405 Rue Marie-Morin
Montréal QC
H2Y 2Y1
(514) 710-6749
by webrisorAmazon Patents Police Traffic Stop Drone
The future is now, ladies and gents. Tech giant Amazon just recently secured a patent for small shoulder-mounted police drones. Referred to as “unmanned aerial vehicle assistants”, these devices could be used to provide enhanced support for police during routine traffic stops. Unlike body-mounted cameras such as GoPros, these drones would allow police to examine a pulled-over vehicle before even approaching in person. This has obvious implications on the safety of citizens as well as police officers.
On the flipside, without appropriate policies and accountability, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine significant breaches of our civil liberties. If outfitted with surveillance mechanisms, these drones could engage in a ton of sneaky maneuvers, from audio-recording to thermal scanning. According to Shankar Narayan, technology and liberty project director for the America Civil Liberties Union in Seattle, “The devices, if put into wide use, would no doubt raise new questions about police use of technology […] In a traffic stop, for example, such a drone could fly around the vehicle conducting a search of the inside of the car without an officer ever establishing the required probable cause for such a search“.
Somehow I can’t help but be reminded of those creepy spider robots from Minority Report.
If you’ve been convicted of a driving infraction or offence, call Ginzburg Legal in Montreal to speak with a criminal defense lawyer.
Ginzburg Legal
405 Rue Marie-Morin
Montréal QC
H2Y 2Y1
(514) 710-6749
by webrisorJail Time for Cheating on Exam
We’ve all thought about it. Whether it was a few scribbled notes on the inside of a palm or a quick peek over at a classmate’s test sheet, cheating is something many have considered or actually done during their academic careers. In fact, one of the most famous sports adages of all time goes something like this: “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying“.
What many people don’t know, however, is that cheating can get you into very big trouble with the law. That’s right, we’re not just talking about an academic suspension and an F on your report card. As a 24-year-old Concordia University student and his tutor recently found out, cheating can also lead to criminal charges. The student is accused of conspiracy and “personation at examination” for allowing his tutor to write an exam on his behalf.
Section 404 of the Canadian Criminal Code pertains to passing yourself off as someone else during an exam, or allowing someone to take it on your behalf:
Every one who falsely, with intent to gain advantage for himself or some other person, personates a candidate at a competitive or qualifying examination held under the authority of law or in connection with a university, college or school or who knowingly avails himself of the results of such personation is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
This is a very seldom used section of the Criminal Code. It’s been used less than a handful of times, and never in an academic setting. Interestingly enough, the infraction itself has far more to do with identify theft than it does with actual cheating. Nonetheless, because it’s a summary offence, the maximum possible penalty is a sentence of 6 months of imprisonment, a fine of $5000, or both.
If you’ve been convicted of this offence, call Ginzburg Legal in Montreal to speak with a criminal defense lawyer.
Ginzburg Legal
405 Rue Marie-Morin
Montréal QC
H2Y 2Y1
(514) 710-6749