Criminal Law & the Charter: Implications & Expectations

It is undeniable that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has profoundly impacted virtually every facet of the criminal justice system, forever altering how crimes are defined, investigated and prosecuted in Canada. In recent years there has been a fair amount of debate as to whether the changes occasioned have been entirely positive and whether or not the Charter has lived up to the great expectations that surrounded its introduction and its early years. This course will explore the various ways in which the Charter has served to remake the Canadian criminal justice system. It will start with the theoretical, exploring the competing theories of the criminal process in an effort to establish a yardstick by which to consider actual developments. From there, the course will focus on actual developments, beginning with the larger and ongoing debate as to whether the Charter has been a good or a bad thing. The course will then move to specifics, critically examining each discrete area in which the Charter's effects have been felt, the definition of offences, the investigation of crime and the trial process. In its penultimate phase, the course will consider the perspectives of those who have arguably been left out, victims of crime, youth, Aboriginals and other visible minorities. The course will conclude with some reflections on the whole in an effort to gain broader insight on the Charter's overall implications.