final exam

Question 1

fundamental freedoms

Answer 1

1) Freedom of conscious and religion
2) Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression
3) Freedom of peaceful assembly
4) Freedom of association

Question 2

reasons for protests

Answer 2

• Collective bargaining if it failed
  
  • Voice an opinion
  • Making a direct change/ challenge
    
    • Convincing others

Question 3

6 ways police repress dissent

Answer 3

1) police violence
2) police intimidation
3) police infiltration
4) police cooperation
5) removal of protestors
6) monitoring protestors through surveillance

Question 4

SOCIAL MODEL OF DISABILITY > civil rights approach to disability

Answer 4

> based on the idea that what makes someone disabled is not their physical or medical state, but the attitudes and structures of our society
if our society was set up differently, then people who would be considered disabled now, would not be considered disabled currently, and they would not be held back from participating in society
Example: people who are unable to use stairs, wearing a mask,

Question 5

actus reus

Answer 5

• Principle that the event in question is caused by the conduct of the accused
  
  • two ways you can commit a guilty act:
    1. Do something that is against the law (commission)
    2. Fail to do something that is against the law (omission)

Question 6

3 parts to actus reus

Answer 6

1. CONDUCT: there is a VOLUNTARY ACT that takes place
   
   2. CIRCUMSTANCES/CONTEXT: martial arts class vs street when punching someone
   3. CONSEQUENCES: resulted in harm to another person

Question 7

mens reus

Answer 7

a. Refers to the intents to commit a crime
b. People are assumed to naturally intend the consequences of their actions
c. State of mind if required
d. Different metal elements for different offenses:
i. INTENT TO COMMIT
ii. RECKLESSNESS OF YOUR ACTIONS
e. Objective Mens Rea:
i. Not actually about the accused persons mind, but what would have been in the mind of a ‘reasonable person’

Question 8

criticisms of mens refs (2)

Answer 8

1. Assumption that everyone is able to think in the same way
   
   2. Ability to separate our choices as an individual from a society that informs our choices

a. Ie. what you want to be when you grow up is informed by your surroundings/environment (what school you went to, what area you live in, what your peer group is like)
b. Some people were never treated as innocent due to the way they looked or grew up
c. Some children are allowed to make mistakes, while others are not

Question 9

1. RELIANCE ON VICTIMS REPORTING CRIMES:

Answer 9

a. People with disabilities are far more likely to be victims of crime (ie., sexual assault)
b. Sexual assault and rape are more about power and dominance over victim than sex
c. We see very high numbers of women with disabilities who are being sexually assaulted and abused
d. 80% of women with disabilities will be sexually abused in their lifetime
e. People with ability limitations are 4x more likely to be abused than those without
f. Large number of sexual assaults against women are committed by their caregivers
g. power imbalance changes drastically for those that are mentally disabled and depend on caregivers for most aspects of their lives
i. Makes it very difficult for these women to report abuse and assault:
Ii. They may fear retaliation, they may fear not being believed, may fear not having a caretaker if theirs is arrested
h. Reporting crimes is a fundamental element of criminal law, yet is inaccessible to many

Question 10

2. EMPHASIS ON RELIABILITY OF WITNESSES:

Answer 10

a. Memory of the witness is essential to criminal justice processes
b. Evidence that is given by severely disabled people is often not included in the case because their accounts of what happened is often not seen as reliable
c. Disabilities are often conflated:
i. I.e.. disabled people are not desirable, it’s unlikely they were sexually assaulted
D. Stereotypes about disability hinder our ability to see disabled people as victims
e. Police won’t believe the disabled persons account of what happened
f. Jennie Hanes:
i. Sexually and physically assaulted by her father (age 4-11)
ii. She developed 2500 alters to cope
iii. The judge allowed 33 of her alters to give evidence of the impacts of abuse (shocking at the time)
g. Those who have disabilities were seen as more vulnerable because of their disability
caregivers
i. Someone with a physical disability might be assumed to also have a mental disability
i. But our society isolates those with disabilities, and that is what makes them vulnerable

Question 11

3. ASSUMPTION THAT PEOPLE ARE RATIONAL ACTORS

Answer 11

a. We assume people understand the consequences of their actions
b. We assume people remember what is legal
c. We assume people are able to consider long term consequences of their actions
d. We assume people can regulate their emotions
i. MANY people do not fit these norms, especially when in crisis
ii. Why it is so hard to carve out what a “reasonable” person is
iii. Many people in prison have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome >
1. Affects memory, understanding of cause and effect, ability to generalise, ability to think abstractly, purpose of law, difficulty planning

Question 12

3 WAYS CRIMINAL LAW EXCLUDES PPL W DISABILITIES

Answer 12

1. emphasis on reporting crime
2. emphasis on reliability of a witness
3. rational actors, assume that everyone is a rational actor or reasonable person
   a. they know what is legal in the moment
   b. the long term consequence
   c. can regulate their emotions in distress

Question 13

WELFARE STATE MODEL (1950-1980’s)

Answer 13

1. EMPHASIS ON SOCIETY: social problems like poverty were a collective issue/ responsibility
2. EMPHASIS ON SHARED RISK:
   social safety net, social programs disability insurance, “nobody left behind”
3. IDEA OF STATE OF ECONOMIC/ SOCIAL PROGRESS: we can build the society we want using the state to fund the things we value
4. HEAVY PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN SOCIAL PROGRAMS: how we share risks and build the society we want
   i. narrows gap between rich and poor
   ii. fund public investments; schools, healthcare etc

Question 14

2 MODELS OF YOUTH JUSTICE

Answer 14

WELFARE STATE

NEOLIBERALISM

Question 15

NEOLIBERALISM

Answer 15

1. EMPHASIS ON INDIVIDUAL CHOICE: everyone is responsible for their own individual choices
2. EMPHASIS ON INDIVIDUAL RISK: everyone responsible for their own risks they choose to take
3. VERY DIFF UNDERSTANDING OF THE STATE: the state is not an active agent to help us build the society we want but rather to facilitate the economy, ex: cutbacks to programs
4. IDEA OF DISCIPLINING PPL: most features only benefit select few, and criminal law is used to address those who are left behind and don’t benefit
5. IDEA OF RESPONSIBILITY: everyone is responsible for what happens in life, others just end up “losing in life”
   i. caused the gap between poor and rich to widen
6. THERE IS NO SOCIETY: we are automatized individuals in competition with one another

Question 16

4 MAIN JUSTIFICATION OF IMPRISONMENT

Answer 16

1. Deterrence of danger (from future crimes)
   
   2. Protect soc from danger
   3. Give ppl who’ve done bad things the punishment they deserve
   4. To obtain justice for victims of crime

Question 17

DETERRENCE

Answer 17

• Not an effective means of reducing future crime
  
  • Heat of the moment, act of desperation/ financial necessity crime
  • Do not consider long term effects of their crime

Question 18

PROTECTING SOCIETY

Answer 18

• Vast majority are not violent
  
  • Or violent crimes where offender does not pose continued danger to society
  • 20-24 committed crime, after years it will go down and they won’t commit again

Question 19

GIVE PPL PUNISHMENT

Answer 19

• Supports the hierarchy of how the system controls and punishes disadvantaged groups like homeless, coloured, women etc
  
  • Not everyone who commits gets caught, and vice versa
  • Not all laws are enforced, or enforced fairly
  • Result in more convictions in more stigmatized communities
  • Is it fair to only punish the convicted rather than everyone who does it

Question 19

GIVE PPL PUNISHMENT

Answer 19

• Supports the hierarchy of how the system controls and punishes disadvantaged groups like homeless, coloured, women etc
  
  • Not everyone who commits gets caught, and vice versa
  • Not all laws are enforced, or enforced fairly
  • Result in more convictions in more stigmatized communities
  • Is it fair to only punish the convicted rather than everyone who does it

Question 20

OBTAIN JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS

Answer 20

• Brings up the question of what punishment does
  
  • 50% of ppl know someone close murdered
  • Not everyone who has lost a loved one feels at justice by punishment of someone else
  • Victims of crime want to see alternative means of punishment, mental health institutions
  • Amy p stabbed while in south Africa
  • 4 of the men that stabbed Amy write apology to her parents and met up with them at the truth and reconciliation process at the protest
  • “I want you to forgive me and take me as your child”
  • Became part of their family, worked with them and treated them as their own

Question 21

ALTERNATIVES TO PRISONS

Answer 21

• Abolishing prisons
  
  • There is a scholar of prison named ruth wilson gilmore: “prison abolishment is not about abolishing the physical prisons or the buildings , prisons is about abolishing the conditions under which prison became the solutions to our problems”
  • We turn to prison to solve a lot of our social problems, convenient
  • Recognizing that prison also does harm, need to find a way to minimize that harm
  • If we took out all the ppl who shouldn’t be there we would have very few ppl in prisons

Question 22

TOUGH ON CRIME AGENDA (reinforces neoliberalism)

Answer 22

1. Reinforced idea that some ppl just lose at life
   a. Allows us to justify heavier and harsher punishments
   b. Avoids looking at root causes of crimes
   2. These measures do not actually reduce crime:
      a. Reinforce the idea that social problems like crime and poverty are individual
      problems and the individual is only to blame
      b. We do not see crime as an individual issue
   3. Heavy emphasis on the prison for the economy:
      a. Privatisation of prison was good for the prison business; slave labour from prisoners
   4. chanel’s ppls anger from dismantling of the welfare state towards criminals
   5. The idea of disciplining ppl who fall through r the cracks
      a. People cannot survive with the choices they are given in a neoliberal society, they are disciplined instead of helped

Question 23

SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE

Answer 23

• ● “School to Prison Pipeline”&raquo_space;
  ○ Children were being treated as criminal adults, schools are a prison
  ○ Ie. Child was charged with armed robbery and held for 2 weeks in jail for stealing
  $2
  ○ Ie. Child was faced with similar treatment for having a meltdown in class
  ● This is not random >
  ○ These measures affect poor, disabled, and racialized children most prominently

Question 24

VIDEO

Answer 24

• conviction is an addiction
• tough on crime measures good for business

Question 25

YOUTH CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT (PASSED 2003, AMENDED 2012)

Answer 25

• variety of different hard punishments
• posed as something progressive and good for young ppl and that the punishments were necessary
• 3 limitations of the act

Question 26

3 LIMITATIONS OF THE YOUTH CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT

Answer 26

1. The Act divides young people into “Good Young People” and “Bad Young People”
2. The Act Predicts Future Risk >
3. criteria used for predicting future risk

Question 27

1. The Act divides young people into “Good Young People” and “Bad Young People”

Answer 27

a. Those who are seen as less risky, less likely to reoffend, more reformable, are given less harsh punishments (i.e., warning, police caution, no further action)

b. Those who are more capable of committing more serious offences are likely to be given much harsher punishments (i.e., correctional facilities, longer sentences)

c. Children used to be seen as all requiring developmental needs and special protections, not being seen as fully formed adults (much more individualistic)

Question 28

2. The Act Predicts Future Risk >

Answer 28

a. Makes division between “Good” and “Bad” young people based on the severity of the offence already committed

b. But also on the basis of a prediction of what that youth will do in the future

c. Works against the idea that people are innocent until proven guilty

d. Critiqued because of the criteria used to make the prediction: