Law 2101 Quiz: Exclusion of Evidence
Document Summary
Section 24(2) is not aimed at punishing the police or providing compensation to the accused, but rather at systemic concerns (grant: nor is it aimed at deterring charter breaches, although that may be a happy consequence. The goal is to maintain the integrity of, and public confidence in, the justice system in the long-term: exclusion of evidence resulting in an acquittal may provoke immediate criticism. But s. 24(2) does not focus on immediate reaction to the individual case. Rather, it looks to whether the overall repute of the justice system, viewed in the long term, will be adversely affected by admission of the evidence (grant) The focus is not only long-term, but prospective. The fact of the charter breach means damage has already been done to the administration of justice. Section 24(2) starts from that proposition and seeks to ensure that evidence obtained through that breach does not do further damage to the repute of the justice system (grant)
