Criminal Justice System In Canada: Overview And Impacts Of The Charter On CJS

Types of Courts

UCR uses a census approach in criminal justice whereby a survey is incorporated. On the other hand, GSS is just a sample survey. A continuous historical record of annual crime statistics with UCR while GSS operates on a repeating cycle. The data obtained is significant in establishing the crime patterns in Canada. The statistics help determine the prevalent crimes and hence help in reducing the crime rate by dealing with the most prevalent crimes.

The charter is a part of the Canadian constitutional Act 1982. According to section 7 of the charter, a constitutional provision protects the citizens' rights from the government's actions. The charter provides equal rights and freedom to all citizens and calls for equality before the law (Chemerinsky, 2019). According to this charter, three types of protection are assured to citizens:

• Right to life
• Right to liberty
• And the security of the person

The denial of such rights is deemed a violation of the constitution. However, denying these rights is considered constitutional if the denial does not violate fundamental justice. The charter applies beyond merely protecting due process and ensures that all citizens are treated fairly and equally by the law.

The charter presents some impacts on the CJS. The greatest impact of the charter on the CJS is that it protects legal rights. The greater safeguard for accused persons is among the challenges presented by the charter, where the charter protects the accused against any mistreatment. On the same note, the charter presents an effect of the accused having the right to speak to a lawyer. In this case, the accused cannot be convicted and charged without being granted the right to speak to a lawyer.

The federal and provincial governments are accountable for the justice organization in the Canadian judicial structure (McCrossan, & Ladner, 2016). The federal government must pay and appoint adjudicators of the superior courts within the provinces. The legislature has the power to found a universal court of appeal and other courts. The court system in Canada follows a certain division where the courts are divided into federal courts and provincial courts.

The Supreme Court is considered the final court of appeal, performing two functions: hearing appeals from the cases of appeal courts in all the provinces and deciding important considerations about the constitution. The court is answerable to the government about its opinion on important legal questions. This court is considered the final court that makes the final decisions on the appeals from other courts in the provinces.

The federal government also establishes the federal court, the federal court of appeal and the Tax court. The federal court deals with cases involving intellectual property, maritime law and other cases related to terrorism. On the other hand, the Tax courts deal with appeals from the tax assessments. The federal court of appeal is charged with the duty to review the decisions of both the federal court and the tax court.

The provincial courts are divided into superior courts and administrative tribunals. Provincial courts deal with criminal crimes, money and family matters. Generally, the superior courts are considered the highest courts in a territory and handle the most serious criminal cases and can review the decisions made by the provincial courts.

Experience of Women and Minority Groups in the CJS

On the other hand, the Canadian government is divided into three branches concerning criminal justice. The federal government must create laws and manage programs and services that affect the whole country. The provincial and territorial governments are charged with the duty and powers to make decisions pertaining to areas of law that impact the province or territory directly.

The process from arrest to sentence completion

A search is conducted, and the suspect is arrested. The trial proceeds. During the trial, parole may be introduced. The judges give out the verdict, and the punishment is offered to the offender.

Professionals in criminal justice must meet the educational requirements to qualify for the profession. Under training, the professionals are equipped with written communication skills, time management, listening and speaking, critical thinking, and decision-making skills. In this case, the skills are equipped to the professionals to prepare them to adapt to the different challenges that they may face. The professionals must ensure fairness and justice in the criminal justice. Despite any strengths of the system, the overrepresentation of indigenous people presents a greet allege to the system.

The experience of women and Minority groups working in the CJS

The Canadian criminal justice allows women to work as CS. Like other males, the women must satisfy the educational and experience requirements in this field. Women working in this area must be a citizen of the country holding an LLB degree and should have worked as a high court judge for at least five years of being an advocate for ten years. The minority groups are also well represented by their chosen leaders in the system. The leader chosen presents the grievances of the minority groups, which the system needs to address.

The experience of indigenous people in the CJS, legacies of colonization, restorative justice, Gladue courts and reports

The native people are overrepresented in the Canadian justice system (Cesaroni, Grol, & Fredericks, 2019). Despite their small population, these people make up 30% of all incarcerated individuals in Canada. Since the time of colonization, the indigenous people were considered to be is treated group by the constitution. The people were alienated from their land, and most suffered a lot. The concept of restorative justice has been widely applied in the Canadian criminal justice system, where it advocates for repairing the harm suffered due to the crime. Unlike retributive justice, which advocates punishing the lawbreakers, restorative justice calls for mediation in repairing the harm suffered due to the crime committed. The Gladue court is a special court for the individuals charged with crimes and self-identifying as indigenous. The courts have dealt with any cases of the indigenous people and have helped many of them get justice.

Canada has three levels of policing, including the provincial, municipal and federal. At the provincial level, the royal Canadian mounted police provide policing services in the eight provinces. The smaller Canadian cities are charged with policing duty at the municipal level. The federal-level deals with the courts, which hear and makes decisions on various cases.

Experience of Indigenous People in the CJS, Legacies of Colonization, Restorative Justice, Gladue Courts and Reports

According to section 8 of the charter, everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search. 

Police officers are allowed to search a person if it is incidental to a lawful arrest. In this case, the search and the arrest warranties are required when the police need to search a suspect. The warranties are needed to ensure that the search is reasonable and that the search does not violate the rights of the convicted under the charter. To obtain such warranties, a constable must verify to a judge or other magistrate that likely cause subsists for the anticipated search.

Police use of force standard, force option available

The police service board deals with the police force in executing their duties. Sections 25 and 26 of the criminal code of Canada it justifies that the police use as much as a reasonably necessary force in the execution of their duties. However, the police force should not exceed the extent of violating the individual's rights. The excessive police force constitutes police brutality, which is against the law.

The courts are divided into provincial and federal courts. The Supreme Court is considered the final court of appeal, performing two functions: hearing appeals from the cases of appeal courts in all the provinces and deciding important considerations about the constitution. The court is answerable to the government about its opinion on important legal questions. This court is considered the final court that makes the final decisions on the appeals from other courts in the provinces.

The federal administration also establishes the federal court, the federal court of appeal and the Tax court. The federal court deals with cases involving intellectual possessions, maritime law and other cases related to terrorism. On the other hand, the Tax courts deal with petitions from the tax valuations. The federal court of appeal is charged with the duty to review the decisions of both the federal court and the tax court.

The provincial courts are divided into superior courts and administrative tribunals. Provincial courts deal with criminal crimes, money and family matters. Generally, the superior courts are considered the highest courts in a zone and deal with the greatest severe unlawful cases and can appraise the choices made by the provincial courts.

Such cases have ascended in the criminal court cases connecting drug crimes, inland ferocity, cerebral health-related crimes and indigenous fairness. The advantage of these courts is that the participants from either issue benefit from the particular courts. The specialized judges have a better appreciation of matters. On the other side, it is disadvantageous that the courts take away cash and incomes from the general court.

Types of trials, when juries are used, concerns related to juries

The types of trials include the summary conviction crimes and the indictable offences. Juries are used to any criminal offence involving a prison sentence of five years or more. The concerns are whether the defendant is liable on the balance of probabilities.

The types of sentences are concurrent, conditional, intermittent and consecutive. Indictable sentences are applied to serious offenses. Such crimes come with more serious punishment than other offences.

When the accused individual pleads guilty at a trial, the court must determine a fair sentence. In this case, the sentence is affected by factors such as the conditions, the weightiness of the crime and the criminal's degree of accountability. 

Trial is the sentence that one serves in the public. The court may order one to complete the period of probation. The maximum length of probation is usually three months. Violation of probation leads to jail.

Incarceration is considered the main form of punishment and rehabilitation for the offences committed. The institutional is termed as the correctional centres are aimed at rehabilitating the offenders.

It is an article that sketches a danger controlling plan for each lawbreaker. It monitors the strategies essential to address areas related with re-offending risk. The preparation passes through the stages of assessment and security classification. The plan is used in proving the effectiveness of reducing re-offending.

Release of parole, eligibility date, the parole application process, consequences for violation

The parole board decides whether to grant parole. The lawbreakers are usually qualified for full parole at 1/3 of their judgment or seven years (Turnbull, 2016). For day parole, criminals are qualified six months before their full parole eligibility. If an individual violates the parole, the parole is suspended until the investigation is completed and the individual is returned to prison. 

References

Cesaroni, C., Grol, C., & Fredericks, K. (2019). Overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in Canada’s criminal justice system: Perspectives of Indigenous young people. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 52(1), 111-128.

Chemerinsky, E. (2019). Constitutional law: principles and policies. Aspen Publishers.

McCrossan, M., & Ladner, K. L. (2016). Eliminating Indigenous jurisdictions: Federalism, the supreme court of Canada, and territorial rationalities of power. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 49(3), 411-431.

Turnbull, S. (2016). Parole in Canada: gender and diversity in the federal system. UBC Press.