As part of the School of Law and Criminology, Prof Claire Hamilton and Melanine Murchison will speak on Exclusionary rule.
'Law or Lottery?: Unpacking the ‘politics of exclusion’ in Canada', Claire Hamilton, Melanie Murchison, Richard Jochelson & Jonathan Hasson.
Current research suggests that, in addition to legal interpretation, a number of extra-legal factors, including the ideology of a judge, public opinion, institutional relations and/or collegiality all significantly influence judicial decision-making. These tensions between legal and extra-legal factors are particularly apparent in the area of evidential exclusionary rules, which has been described as ‘politically charged’ and where the gap between the ‘law in the books’ and the ‘law in practice’ is particularly pronounced. Against this background, this paper examines trends towards exclusion in Canada, as a jurisdiction where commentators have pointed to the policy preferences of decision-makers as being influential on judicial decision-making. This study aims to examine judicial approaches to the exclusion of evidence by focusing on two key areas. First, it examines how judicial decision-making is affected by non-legal characteristics, such as pre-judicial professional experience and gender. Secondly, it examines the influence of trial-related and case-specific characteristics, including the severity of the offense, type of crime, involvement of crime victims, and type of evidence requested for exclusion.
ALL WELCOME