Learning Canadian Criminal Procedure

In Learning Canadian Criminal Procedure, Fourteenth Edition, the Authors have given full consideration to the following recent major rulings from the Supreme Court: Le - Racial context and profiling; s.24(2) exclusion for Charter breaches Chouhan - Challenging potential jurors for cause K.G.K - Jordan ceilings not applying to verdict delay respecting s. 11(b) Zora - Bail decisions to be minimal, reasonable, and necessary G.F - Presumption trial judge knows and applied the law correctly Parranto - Discretionary starting point sentences An important focus was to incorporate and assess the response of the Federal Government to the much tougher approach to unconstitutional delay by the Supreme Court in R. v. Jordan and what the Court viewed as a “culture of complacency.” Bill C-75 was passed by the House of Commons in December of 2018. In the case of jury selection, the Act abolishes peremptory challenges and declares challenges for cause to be a matter of judicial discretion. Special attention is given to the Supreme Court’s lengthy and deeply divided decision in R v. Chouhan as to how judges are expected to approach their new and wide responsibility to control juror selection through challenges for cause. There is an expanded but unclear judicial duty to explore possible biases. Full consideration is also given to the 3-2 decision of the Supreme Court in R. v. Le respecting arbitrary detention in a racialized context. This is now the leading decision on how race is to be considered in the separate inquiries into whether there has been psychological detention and/or racial profiling. The majority decision in Le also adds weight to the established approach of the Supreme Court to the exclusion of evidence under s. 24(2) of the Charter.