This webinar will explore recent developments in Canadian law that indicate a new trend toward imposing punitive measures at increasingly earlier stages of the prosecutorial process. The result is a potentially new field of criminal management some academics have dubbed “pre-crime”. Pre-crime, which seeks to use the law as a technology of surveillance, is based upon ideas now seen as commonplace in the era of the “war on terror”. Specifically, the need to ensure security at all costs, the proliferation of digital data, and the development of drones, social networking, and cloud storage to gather personal data. The webinar will be of use to anyone with an interest in criminal law, policing, and surveillance, as well as those interested in how areas of law, such as immigration, health, and anti-terrorism, are mobilizing the logic of risk and surveillance in new ways that emphasize precaution
Speaker:
Dr. Richard Jochelson is an associate professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba and holds his PhD in law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, a Masters in Law from University of Toronto Law School, and a Law Degree from University of Calgary Law School (Gold Medal). He is a former law clerk who served his articling year at the Alberta Court of Appeal and Court of Queen’s Bench, before working at one of Canada’s largest law firms. He worked for ten years teaching criminal and constitutional law at another Canadian university prior to joining Robson Hall. He has published peer-reviewed articles dealing with obscenity, indecency, judicial activism, police powers, criminal justice pedagogy and curriculum development, empiricism in criminal law, and conceptions of judicial and jury reasoning. He is a member of the Bar of Manitoba and has co-authored and co-edited several books. He has recently co-authored Criminal Law and Precrime: Legal Studies in Canadian Punishment and Surveillance in Anticipation of Criminal Guilt (2018, Routledge).
[Reprinted with permission from the February 2019 issue of Communiqué by Darcia Senft.]
What You Should Know
It used to be the case that when a lawyer took a vacation, work was left at the office. While all of us may try to take a real break from work when we are trying to recharge our batteries, the reality is that clients have become accustomed to being able to email their lawyers at all hours of the day and on weekends. For a variety of reasons, lawyers often respond to client matters while they are on vacation or when out of the country for one reason or another. Lawyers often travel with a laptop or a tablet and almost always with a cell phone in order to access emails, client information and other work-related materials. Do you know what risks you face when travelling with your electronic device and what you can do to minimize those risks?
The Federation of Law Societies of Canada has published a reference document for the legal profession dealing with the risks of travelling internationally with an electronic device. You can find the document here.
The document, developed by the Policy Counsel Counterpart Group of the Federation with the assistance of law society
practice advisors, describes the risks of travelling with an electronic device when returning to Canada, going through preclearance with U.S. border officials on Canadian soil, and when travelling to the U.S. and beyond.
The following decision was granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada: R. v. Friesen, 2018 MBCA 69. As summarized in Supreme Advocacy Letter #11 (2019):
Mr. Friesen met the mother through an online dating website. The mother brought Mr. Friesen to her home. On the date of the offence, the mother’s children were sleeping and were being cared for by the mother’s friend in the mother’s house. Mr. Friesen asked the mother to bring the child into the bedroom. The mother’s friend was awoken by the child’s screams, entered the bedroom and took the child out of the bedroom. Mr. Friesen demanded the mother retrieve the child and threatened her if she did not comply with his demand. Mr. Friesen entered guilty pleas to sexual interference and attempted extortion. The sentencing judge imposed a sentence of six years’ incarceration concurrent on both charges. The C.A. granted leave to appeal sentence. The C.A. allowed the appeal and reduced the sentence from six to four and one-half years’ incarceration for the sexual interference conviction and reduced the sentence from six years to 18 months incarceration concurrent for the attempted extortion conviction. “The motion for an extension of time to serve and file the response to the application for leave to appeal is granted. The application for leave to appeal…is granted.”
If you are a member of the Law Society of Manitoba, and would like a copy of any of the decisions from the digest please contact the library and we will be happy to provide those for you.
The Manitoba Law Library would like to acknowledge with gratitude that we are situated on Treaty One Territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree and Dakota peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Printing and Photocopying
If you need to use the library’s printing and photocopying services you will need to create an account. See us at the front desk for assistance.
PLEASE NOTE:The Manitoba Law Library will be closed Monday,September 30th, 2024 for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Regular library service will resume Tuesday,October 1st, 2024 at 8:30AM.
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