Each of us, in discussing crime and punishment, should be forced to answer: What is the social utility of this punishment? (Also please note the salutary effects of bail in this story.)

Politicians talk a lot about mythically incorrigible offenders. What do we do with people who commit crimes and rehabilitate? www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... by @coleenlisa.bsky.social

Prisoners deserve more information about use-of-force incidents - read the opinion piece on the recent use of force JR filed with support from PLS here: tinyurl.com/udbwa9ee

My news feed: Trump EO Formalizes Deportation of Kids Bad at Sports White House to Extend ACA Subsidies, But Only for AI Girlfriends Hegseth Claims No Binging Promise a Joke, Tells Press to “Lighten up” Trump Admin Argues in Court that Constitution Actually Starts at 2nd Amendment

In my email just now. Evil.

When legislation aims to ensure that investments of multiple First Nations in litigation are wasted, aims to silence judges, and shows no regard for the integrity and limited resources of the justice system, I should hope judges in this country will not be mute.

Justice Feasby handed down a complex, comprehensive decision six weeks ahead of an already expedited schedule. An extraordinary feat, done in order to give the public what it paid for in terms of judicial resources.

R. v. McDonald, 2025 ONCA 807: Important case on Browne v Dunn in which the Associate Chief Justice overturns a murder conviction entered by a now-sitting member of the Court of Appeal coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

True words. Go get that liberty

Office hours with Professor Weinrib. This young pupil tries to justify the idea that 6-7 really is funny and interesting.

R. v. Rioux, 2025 SCC 34 at para 98: To determine whether a complainant did not consent or lacked the capacity to consent at the time of a sexual act, a court must consider all the relevant evidence, including circumstantial evidence. decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

R. v. Marshall, 2025 ONCA 638 at para. 148: "The trial Crown’s closing was graphic, inflammatory, and contained rhetoric that falls below the expected standard of Crown counsel." But the Court of Appeal is going to let this one pass. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Sheppard, 2025 SCC 29: Friesen applies to historical sexual abuse against children. Sentences for historical offences are properly determined in accordance with the sentencing regimes and societal perspectives that prevail at the time of sentencing decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

R. v. Bowie, 2025 ONCA 661 at para 27: Justice Trotter dismisses a bail pending appeal application from a convicted criminal lawyer through the public safety arm of the Oland test. This is rare. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Storey, 2025 ONCA 599 at para. 66: At sentencing, don't conflate NCR with moral blameworthiness. An offender's cognitive challenges can be mitigating even if the challenges don't rise to the NCR level. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Pierre, 2025 ONCA 589 at para 60: The Court overturns a murder conviction entered by their now-colleague. The jury instruction failed to fully explain what the after-the-fact conduct could not do: inform the mens rea generally. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Leclaire, 2025 ONSC 4203 (CanLII): Justice Kathy Jalali refused to impose a mandatory minimum prison sentence. The appeal court (SCJ) basically called this judicial misconduct. canlii.ca/t/kdntc

R. v. D.B., 2025 ONCA 577 at para 19: Failing to meaningfully engage with the collateral consequences of family separation is an error in principle. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

Great piece. Stop subsidizing families who don’t need it through artificially constrained tuition. Take steps to support students in need. Tuition freeze should not be populist. It does not level the playing field, just destroys our universities. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Heather Mallick does a disservice to the women of the criminal defence bar by implying that their male clients hire them for the optics. I'm proud to have learned from many of the brilliant women who are leading our profession. Their clients hire them because they are excellent lawyers.

"No other court in the country has a rigid policy denying physical access to counsel." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

R. v. Griffiths, 2025 ONCA 511, citing in R. v. Lu, 2022 ONSC 1918, at para. 58, per Di Luca J.: A person can be remorseful for having committed an offence while nonetheless exercising their constitutional right to a trial. The two are not incompatible. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Gilmore, 2025 ONCA 517 at para. 47, citing Easterbrook, 2022 ONCJ 647, at paras. 43-44, per @brockbjones.bsky.social: It is an aggravating sentencing factor that an assault was committed on public transit. In this case, it was the TTC subway. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

R. v. Mariani, 2025 BCSC 1298: the retroactive elimination of "Faint Hope" is unconstitutional. Faint Hope applications are now permissible for anyone convicted of the applicable offences before or after December 2011. Another "Truth in Sentencing" provision is struck down.

R. v. Kinamore, 2025 SCC 19: The Supreme Court attempts to even the ledger on 276/Seaboyer/sexual history evidence. The Crown must bring an application that mirrors s. 276's procedural requirements to introduce this evidence. [1/5] decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-...

I am pleased to announce that Peck and Company will be accepting articling applications for 2026/2027. Please submit your applications by July 15, 2025. If interested, please direct message me for further application details.

R. v. Attachie, 2025 BCCA 183: the mitigating effect of a guilty plea is enhanced if the Crown's case is weak. "A fragile Crown's case is a fundamentally important circumstance of the pleas, if not the most fundamentally important".

Hurry up and wait. That’s the unofficial motto of Ontario’s criminal courts — and it’s breaking the system. My latest for Canadian Lawyer on inefficiency, inconsistency, and how scheduling a trial can take longer than actually holding one. www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion...

R. v. Singh, 2025 ONCA 460 at para 11: A judge cannot reason that as a matter of logic and common sense, one would expect a sexual abuse victim to demonstrate behaviour consistent with that abuse or change behaviour such as avoiding the perpetrator. coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

To get first access to new issues, be sure to subscribe via our website: crimhighlights.ca.

The Spring 2025 issue of "Criminological Highlights" is out now! In it we highlight studies exploring race and risk assessment, pretrial release, the right to remain silent, and much more. View the issue here: www.crimhighlights.ca/criminologic...

R. v. Anderson, 2025 ONCA 408: This case is going to the SCC on two issues: 1️⃣ fabrication instruction 2️⃣ unreasonable verdict coadecisions.ontariocourts.ca/coa/coa/en/i...

Weinrib on Constitutional Rights, buff.ly/mJ2KQbn - Jacob Weinrib (Queens University) has posted The Impasse of Constitutional Rights on SSRN.

Dan is building a different defence firm, alongside brilliant Lindsay Board, *and* he also does meaningful work for students at his alma mater, @queensulaw.bsky.social. We will celebrate tomorrow in Toronto when he receives an alumni award! @colleenmflood.bsky.social lawandstyle.ca/news/rethink...

We are proud to share the publication of the first article of 56:1 by @adelinaiftene.bsky.social and Allison Hearns! Read the full article in Volume 56, Issue 1 of the OLR! rdo-olr.org/sentencing-v...

Marie Henein receives our honorary doctorate this year @queensulaw.bsky.social and gives a barn burner of a talk to our graduating Queen’s law students - calling on them to fight for justice in these difficult times. So much joy!

Today was a great, great convocation @queensulaw.bsky.social. We honoured Marie Henein for all she has done for the legal system. She honoured us with her always powerful words and fearless way of being. @colleenmflood.bsky.social

Lisa Kelly told me to read this book and I know enough to listen to her. 40 pages in and my thinking is altered. Mandatory one for the legal profession: profs, students, judges alike.

Oh man do I love this page in Harold Johnson’s book on his law school experience (hopefully a bit dated, but there are still some that fit ….)

Writing is like parenting. Mostly self-doubt with flashes of triumph.

Excited to see my wonderful colleague Colin Grey stepping away from the safety of the law school classroom (where mistakes have no consequences) up to the SCC podium for the first time in this one.

Kingston brewpub to celebrate brilliant Paul Quick making SCC submissions today on prisoner access to habeas corpus. I’m so glad we exist in each other’s lives and not just on screens! Also he schooled them on the inadequacies of judicial review / the prisoner grievance system.

Another big prison law case at SCC May 13. Paul Quick of Queen's Prison Clinic on for the John Howard Society @queensulaw.bsky.social Frank Dorsey & Ghassan Salah say habeas corpus should be available to prisoners denied transfer to lower security. Case is about warehousing + access to justice.

Henceforth I see all of culture only as a source of possible law lecture hooks Jacob is too brilliant, it’s unfair I have to share students with him

Crazy to have out of classroom writing assignments, for starters. Maybe we record content lectures and use in-class time for closed computer drafting and discussion. We can make changes people ….

I don’t know who is funnier here, Proudfoot or Carney …. Both have some great lines. “what it looks like when an economist’s soul leaves his body out of self-preservation….”

Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu festival tragedy underscores the tension between mental health and criminal justice. Accused killer Kai-Ji Adam Lo needed an intervention -- but who was responsible for acting? by @picardonhealth.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... via @theglobeandmail.com

450% on would of, should of, could of

172% tariff on briefs that start PREMISES CONSIDERED