Ashley Smith died tragically at the age of 19 inside her prison cell after tying a ligature around her neck, while prison guards – instructed not to intervene before she stopped breathing – watched. This took place in 2007 at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener. There is an inquest into her death. Public [...]
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The CCLA is before the Supreme Court today, arguing that police officers involved in an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) into the use of force resulting in death or serious injury to a civilian are not entitled to the assistance of legal counsel in the preparation of their duty notes of the incident. [...] CCLA welcomes the decision released today by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Pham, affirming the central role that the principle of individualized sentencing should play: that the personal circumstances of an offender are relevant in determining their sentence. The central question on appeal was whether a judge should exercise his or her [...] Ashley Smith died tragically at the age of 19 inside her cell at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener in 2007 after tying a ligature around her neck while guards, instructed not to intervene before she stopped breathing, watched. Public inquests are held when an inmate dies in custody and serve to determine the [...] This week the Ontario Court of Appeal is set to hear a series of cases that challenge the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences. CCLA has objected to mandatory minimum sentences for years, in large part because they take judges’ discretion to determine the sentence that is fit for the circumstances of the crime and the [...] |
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