The Criminal Justice Course
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Syllabus
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Introduction
1. Emotions and the Law: Seeing Criminal Justice as a Defendant or Victim
2. Crime and Criminal Justice as Social Phenomena
3. The Nature of Criminal Justice
The Historical Development of Criminal Justice
1. General
2. In Canada
The Theory of Criminal Justice
1. The Utility of Punishment
2. The Justification of Punishment
3. The Critique of Punishment
Models of criminal justice compared
1. Authoritarian v. Liberal
2. "Western" Retributive v. "Indigenous" Restorative?
3. Common Law v. Romano-Germanic Law
Criminal Jurisdiction
1. The territorial reach of criminal justice
2. Criminal justice and legal pluralism
The Sources of Criminal Law
1. The constitutional framework of the criminal law
2. Foreign and International Impacts on Criminal Justice
Policing
1: Policing and surveillance
2. The Use of Constraint: Search, Seizure and Arrest Powers
3. Investigation and interrogation
Rights of the suspect and the defendant
1. Custody and Bail
2. The Presumption of Innocence
3. The Right to a Lawyer
4. The Right to Be Tried Within a Reasonable Delay
General Principles of the Criminal Law
1. The Principle of Legality
2. Criminal Responsibility and Capacity 1: Juvenile Justice
3. Criminal Capacity and Responsibility 2. Mental Disorder
4. Statutes of Limitations and Double Jeopardy
Criminal Offences
1. The fundamental nature of the criminal offence and the difference between categories of crimes
2. Causality: "chains of causation," "thin skulls" and "novus actus interveniens"
3. Absolute, Objective or Subjective Criminal Liability (and for What Offences?)
4. Understanding Mens Rea: Objective and Subjective Fault Requirements
5. Inchoate, impossible and imaginary offences
6. Voluntariness: automatism, duress, necessity and intoxication
7. Participation: How much does it take to commit a crime?
The Principal Actors of the Criminal Justice System: Status and Role
1. The Role, Independence and Impartiality of Judges
2. Prosecutors: How Far Should Discretion Go?
3. Should Juries Be "Representative" and How?
4. Defence Lawyers: The Ethics of Defending
5. What Role for Victims?
Basics of Procedure
1. Plea Bargaining
2. Equality of arms, disclosure and evidence
3. Remedies for Rights Violations and Evidence Exclusion Rules
Sentencing and Clemency
Cross-Cutting Issues
1. Sexual assault: consent, "rape shield", and mistake
2. Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System
3. Depenalization, with Focus on Drugs
2. Mistake
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