Chapter 8 Flashcards
What are the factors that affect the decision to charge someone with an offence?
- strength of the case
- social structure of the case
- seriousness of the offence
- accountability of the offender
- organizational pressure
What are the elements of compelling a person to appear?
- Lodging a complaint: police record criminal charges and obtain information relevant to the case
- Endorsement: authorizes police to release the accused on similar grounds to those for being arrested without a warrant
- Section 553 CC offences: accused is generally released from detention with summons or appearance notice
- Section 469 CC offences (murder): superior court justice decides whether the accused will be placed in a detention facility.
What is reverse onus
When the onus is on the accused to show why they should be released from custody.
What is the interim release process?
First appearance in court is the bail hearing. The crown must show cause why the accused should be detained.
Explain the process of denial of interim release
According to section 515(2) of CC, continued detention is allowed when:
- necessary to ensure appearance at court
- necessary for protection of public
- necessary to maintain confidence in administration of justice
What are the factors of prosecutorial screening?
- Sufficient evidence for conviction
- seriousness of offence (violent or non-violent)
- criminal record of accused
- cooperation of witnesses
- credibility of witnesses and/or victim
- accused is witness in separate criminal proceeding
What are the models of prosecutorial screening?
Transfer model, unit model, legal sufficiency model, trial sufficiency model, defendant rehab model
Explain the transfer model of prosecutorial screening
Very little screening occurs, prosecutors charge most of the accused after they receive the case from police. Key factor is the amount of resources available to a prosecutor’s office, more resources=more cases will be heard
Explain the unit model of prosecutorial screening
Individual prosecutors are given significant amounts of discretion to do as they like with each case. There is litle organizational guidance, little specific policy given to prosecutors.
Explain the legal sufficiency model
Cases are screened according to their legal elements. If there are sufficient legal grounds, the case will probably be prosecuted.
Explain the system efficiency model for prosecutorial screening
Cases are disposed of quickly. only those cases where there is a high probability of success will be prosecuted; those which are not as clear-cut will be rejected as too time consuming because there are not enough resources
Explain the trial sufficiency model of prosecutorial screening
A case proceeds to court only if a conviction is likely. Resources are secondary, given the prosecutor’s feeling that the case will end in conviction
Explain the defendant rehabilitation model of prosecutorial screening
The prosecutor’s decision rests on whether it is possible to rehabilitate the defendant. Under this model, alternatives are sought out before the case goes to court as long as the accused agrees to participate.
What is disclosure of evidence?
The prosecution must disclose all evidence it will use at trials to the defence (Section 7 of the Charter). Disclosure is a crucial factor in the fairness and efficiency of the criminal justice system. Disclosure will often lead to a guilty plea before the trial.
What are the different types of pleas?
General pleas are either guilty or not guilty. Special pleas are autrefois acquit, autrefois convict, and pardon
What are the possible convictions after a not guilty plea?
Either summary conviction or indictable offence. A summary conviction offence leads to summary conviction court, an indictable offence leads to either a preliminary inquiry or trial in provincial court.
What is plea bargaining?
Any agreement to plead guilty in exchange for a benefit. Occurs between the accused, defence counsel, and Crown prosecutor
What are the purposes for plea bargaining?
Improves efficiency of the courts, lowers the cost of prosecutions, and permits the prosecution to devote time to more important cases
What are the types of plea bargaining?
charge sentence procedural fact label
What are the purposes of a preliminary hearing?
To see if Crown has enough evidence and to protect the accused from being placed on trial unecessarily.
What are the elements of a preliminary hearing?
Held when an accused is charged with an indictable offence and elects to be tried by judge and jury. The intention is not to determine guilty. Conducted like a regular trial, open to the public, publication ban requests, evidence and witnesses presented, cross examinations. After evidence is presented, judge decides whether sufficient evidence to prosecute is present. if so, a trial is scheduled, if not then the accused is discharged.
What are the 4 factors for judges to rule on when unreasonable delay has occurred, as established in R. v Askow (1900)?
- The length of delay
- the explanation for delay
- waiver by the accused
- prejudice by the accused
What is the role of the jury?
To enhance fairness of a trial, and to enhance confidence in the justice system
What are the main goals of the jury?
- represent the community
- remain independent and impartial
- remain open minded in approach to the trial
