Effective Legislation and Timeliness
The project of delivering timely justice shares many concerns with other legal reform projects. Richard Susskind’s online court proposal would eliminate many of the time and space issues that delay getting a case to court or resolution. Gillian Hadfield’s free market solutions have the potential to make courts more responsive and better equipped to meet changing expectations of service and quality. This comment focusses on …
“Delay Begets Delay” – An Ontario Civil Case Short Story
The desire for timeliness or delay frequently overlap with the desire for victory. Thus, zeal for timeliness is dynamic, depending on the parties who benefit most from it. And delay doesn’t hurt everyone. Think Research Corporation v. N & M Medical Enterprises 2023 ONSC 6910 serves as an excellent example of the fluid interests in timeliness and delay when victory is on the line. Justice …
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Is AI the Solution to Delay?
Coming out of Africa, Nicola Taljaard from Bowmans has pointed out the potential for AI to help solve the problem of undue delay in justice systems. Although AI appears as a potential remedy for countries like Brazil and India where the backlog is tens of millions of cases it is also a systemic tool. AI, as implemented in some places, can be an early selection …
Is it Time to Supplant the Jury Dozen for the Lone Wig?
British journalist Sir Simon Jenkins recently wrote an opinion piece for the Guardian in which he proposes getting rid of the jury system entirely, or at least, “drastically curtail[ing]” it. Jenkins argues, “the cost and delay of jury trials are enormous” and “there is no conclusive evidence they are more ‘just’ than systems based on judges in the rest of Europe.” Jenkins has good reason …
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Victim’s Mother Worries She Won’t Live to See Justice as Murder Case Faces Delays
Who suffers most from delays in forensic assessments? We know from Canadian experiences, such as that we noted earlier in Manitoba, that delays in fitness to stand trial assessments can lengthen dramatically without much fanfare or notice by the general public (See: Psychiatric Assessment Backlog in Manitoba). Where there is a strong appearance that the accused was suffering from a profound mental illness that properly …
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UK Victims’ Commissioner Report Demonstrates the Effects of Court Delays on Victims
The UK’s Victims’ Commissioner Annual Report demonstrates that there are several orders of consequences to chronic delays. Court delays and backlogs often leave crime victims reliving their pain rather than finding closure. Far from the vindicating justice they seek, many feel “stuck in a cycle of reliving their traumatic experiences” through endless investigations, prosecutions, and courtroom ordeals. For victims, court should mark progress in healing …
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Alabama Aims to Prioritise Violent Crime Cases
Alabama’s new Speedy Trial Act offers an insight into the growing recognition of the several benefits of achieving timeliness. The Attorney General’s press release features four goals: (1) Prioritizing violent crime cases; (2) Protecting victims and witnesses; (3) Reducing court backlogs; and (4) Strengthening public trust. Prioritising violent crime cases will hopefully have all four effects. The right to a timely trial has always been …
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The Advocate Article: “Delay and Timeliness: Part III – Obstacles and Implementation”
“The obstacles that are commonly raised against increasing timeliness include the following: more judges and more resources are needed; lawyers lack trial experience and are simply taking too long; the volumes of evidence and complexities of our legal system drive more intensive and longer process; and lawyers and parties are not cooperating in reducing the courts’ work. These objections at bottom reflect the widespread commitment …
Cultural Expectations of Timeliness
Andre Picard has led an extended conversation in the Globe and Mail on the many questions respecting the quality of healthcare in Canada. In Friday, February 7’s column he focusses on two successful healthcare systems in the Netherlands and Denmark. He observes that virtually all their people have access to primary care, that there is a far more effective distribution of care duties between physicians, …
Defence Delays in Fouani Case Highlight Systemic Tug-of-War Between Timeliness and the Choice of Parties
Talal Fouani, 48, was charged in June 2022 for “laundering money for organized crime” in relation to a police investigation “into a massive, cross-border drug trafficking operation involving Mexican cartels.” According to the Alberta police, the $55-million drug bust was the largest ever in Alberta, “involving nearly one metric tonne of methamphetamine and six kilograms of cocaine.” Two weeks after Fouani was charged there was …