CRI210H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Summary Offence, Trial, General Jurisdiction
9 Dec 2016
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Goff - chapter 9: major issues in the canadian court system. Due to increasing costs of litigation, more and more canadians represent themselves instead of hiring lawyers to look after their cases. In canada the right to legal representation is based on the need for fairness. The characteristics of the accused such as financial situation, language skills, and education. The complexity of legal and evidentiary matters. The possible outcome-- for example, the possibility of imprisonment. Burden of the court hypothesis (two parts): rising number of legally unrepresented accused is placing considerable pressure on other court actors such as prosecutors and judges, who must then assist the accused. E. g. our system of disclosure obligates the defence counsel to request disclosure from the prosecution. Burden on the accused: the accused often self-represent for bad reasons, e. g. they might believe that they cannot wait for a lawyer to argue the case. But this can lead to worse consequences when a sentence is determined.
