http://lightbox.time.com/2013/07/30/live-through-this-documenting-one-womans-struggle-with-heroin/#1
Author Archives: Karen
Toronto Police to issue receipts for ‘carding’ stops
I applaud this latest police initiative. Accountability and transparency drives this change.
All too often, in the criminal justice system, we heard stories of civilians being stopped without rhyme or reason. Often the motive pointed to was racism.
Police officers will still card but now civilians will have paper proof that they were carded and by whom. I hope that the paper trail will foster better relations between the police and the public. No doubt, some will embrace the receipt concept, others will simply tear it up.
April showers, brings May seizures…oops, wrong plant!
Policing is hard work. Front line police officers respond to the unpredictable, the predictable and the mundane. They must bring to bear patience, fortitude, common sense, and a great deal of compassion. They carry guns, and their actions are scrutinized, often mercilessly.
I immensely respect the work our men and women in blue do for us. I did, however, find this ‘blooper’ of a policing mistake humorous, and wanted to share it with you.
A call to the New York police about pot plants set the scene in action. Police arrive to search and destroy. Only the crop was not pot. Tomato plants were seized and hauled away. NYDaily News Article here.
The gardener had not run afoul of drug legislation, but had run afoul of the building’s ‘no access to the roof’ policy. The jig is up. The roof will now be out of bounds for our New York urban garden guerilla.
Balancing Lawyering and Motherhood
Mother’s Day is Sunday. My youngest bursting with pride presented me with my Mother’s Day gift yesterday. Carefully wrapped with tissue paper and tied off with a teacher’s bow. Inside lay a frame of my son’s art and carefully hand printed rendition of Mommy stuff. My Mom’s name is Karen. My Mom is Nis. My Mom loves Sports.
Apparently, my other two are hard at work on their Mother’s Day gifts and I will receive them Sunday morning. I await with bated breath.
This morning’s Globe and Mail contained Sarah Hampson’s piece on motherhood. It resonated deeply.
She writes,” I think every mother knows, not necessarily right away but little by little with each passing year, that motherhood has shaped her differently. We get stretch marks of the heart and mind.” According to research cited by Sarah, motherhood changes women’s brains, with an increasing volume of grey matter in the mid-brain section. She cites Katherine Ellison’s, The Mommy Brain, for the proposition that bump-dom brings increased perception, resiliency, motivation and EQ. Continue reading
Constitutional Safeguards
One of my very first cases as an articling student at McCarthy and McCarthy as it then was, involved margarine. Warehouses full of the wrong coloured margarine were locked down as the colour violated regulatory requirements, that margarine be a different colour than butter. No false advertising. I remember the urgency of trying to deal with the search warrant and the return/preservation of the product. I had nightmares, brought on by my trauma of being thrust into articling hell, about rivers of my client’s melting product wading through London, Ontario.
During the course of my articling year, I then became involved with a second case,where on behalf of margarine manufacturers, we brought a constitutional challenge under the Charter, arguing that the regulatory requirements violated our clients’ freedom of expression.
Today is the 20th anniversary of a free world wide web
Started from the work of astrophysicists and scientists. I was first introduced to its notion, May 19, 1996 through a dear friend, an astrophysicist turned lawyer, in a Left Bank bar, when he tried to explain his PsiOn to me.
Judge rules white girl will be tried as black man
From the humour site, The Onion, we find this:
Judge Rules White Girl Will Be Tried As Black Adult
The court ruled a white teen who stabbed a classmate to death will face the jury as a 300-pound black man.
21st century – Criminal Remands
Technology is available at our fingertips. Stuck inside our purses, our pockets, we whip out devices and we are connected to the world.
The criminal justice system is based on notions of jurisdiction over the body and jurisdiction over the offence. This compels a person facing criminal charges to appear before the courts to have their guilt or innocence determined. To get from arrest to trial, in Toronto courts, can take many housekeeping appearances or remands. When I started practising criminal defence work in 1991, the remands were far fewer. I recall setting many trial dates on the same day as the bail hearing was held. Now administrative hurdles must be crossed before trials can be set. Has the Crown provided full disclosure? Often this process itself can involve many remands before the answer is yes. Is the accused going to retain counsel? Again, the answering of this question can involve many remands. Continue reading
Can I go home, I think not
Quebec tweet ban takes effect today
Starting today, you’ll have to seek a judges permission before tweeting, sms’ing or emailing from Quebec court room.
The rules come at a time when many reporters use social media tools to relay information in real time and draw readers to their websites.
Odd, because it was only this year that the Ontario Supreme Court allowed tweeting from lawyers and media…