Tag Archives: #MeToo

Law Blog

“What Worries Me (Most) About Sexual Assault Prosecutions”

2 Comments

I recently watched OsgoodePD’s 2021 Symposium on Sexual Assault available here – not inexpensive, but quite worthwhile. I enjoyed most of it. My favourite part was by far the “debate” between Professor Melanie Randall (“Randall”) and Alan Gold. Randall is a law professor out of Western, and Gold is a legendary criminal defence lawyer (and prolific criminal law author) based in Toronto. The format is essentially each gave a monologue of about 10 minutes about “what worries me about sexual assault prosecutions.” Each had very different views – both were very critical of what passes for our criminal justice system in the area of sexual assault, but for predictably very divergent reasons. I thought Randall’s screed was so useful in that it encapsulates everything that is actually wrong with our system. I suggest her monologue should be made freely and publicly available, and distributed as “Exhibit A” of everything wrong with criminal justice in Canada. I have to say, it was refreshing, as she was far clearer about her concerns than other academics, as I’ve mentioned here.

The main problem with her monologue is her continued insistence on the “pernicious myth” that women “routinely” lie about sexual assault – which is, in her view, not only empirically wrong but also conceptually incoherent (4:38). This is all I really need to know. Why is that a myth, and where is this clear social science evidence showing that it is empirically wrong? I’ll wait. In the meantime, here’s an excellent blog post casting doubt on her baseless assertion (also Wikipedia directly contradicts the claim). More importantly, it is utterly irreconcilable with the presumption of innocence. See how this approach is indirectly “debunked” nicely by the great Paciocco JA recently in R. v. JC, 2021 ONCA 131 as follows, paras. 88-89, emphasis added:

It is dangerous for a trial judge to find relevance in the fact that a complainant has exposed herself to the unpleasant rigours of a criminal trial. As this court said in R. v. G.R.A (1994), 1994 CanLII 8756 (ON CA), 35 C.R. (4th) 340 (Ont. C.A.), “the fact that a complainant pursues a complaint cannot be a piece of evidence bolstering her credibility. Otherwise it could have the effect of reversing the onus of proof”. Of interest, in R. v. K.(V.) (1991), 1991 CanLII 5761 (BC CA), 68 C.C.C. (3d) 18 (B.C.C.A.), at p. 35, Wood J.A. disapproved of such reasoning because it would itself rest in “gender-related stereotypical thinking” that sexual offence complainants are believable. Such reasoning would be a stereotype because it is a prejudicial generalization that would be available in every case.

The primary concern with using a complainant’s readiness to advance a criminal prosecution is that doing so cannot be reconciled with the presumption of innocence. The trial is to begin on the rebuttable premise that the accused is not guilty, not on the basis that the mere making of a criminal sexual assault allegation favours a finding of guilt: R. v. Stewart (1994), 1994 CanLII 7208 (ON CA), 90 C.C.C. (3d) 242 (Ont. C.A.), at p. 252, leave to appeal refused, [1994] S.C.C.A. No. 290; R. v. Nyznik, 2017 ONSC 4392, 350 C.C.C. (3d) 335, at para. 17.

In any event, even if her claim was both true and appropriate (for the sake of argument alone), it is a stereotype, generalization, and entirely unhelpful in the context of any particular complaint – whether these types of complaints are usually or generally true or not is entirely irrelevant, dangerous, and highly prejudicial to the possibility of a fair trial.

She goes on about “ritualized hostility and sustained attacks on credibility” – as against the complainant only, as if the accused (supposedly presumptively innocent) does not regularly have to endure extremely hostile attacks on his credibility by Crowns who – of course – never “whack” the defendant. Note bad character evidence – regularly and wrongly introduced against the accused and rarely if ever corrected on appeal (see R. v. Z.W.C., 2021 ONCA 116 and R v Stauth, 2021 ABCA 88 – contrary to R v JKED, 2021 ABCA 111). Note that this stuff is usually excused as “context” or “narrative” – which would never fly for s. 276 evidence about the complainant, as I’ve pointed out repeatedly (see here, for example).

She goes on about “repetitive, invasive questions, direct claims that lying, and host of other tactics of intimidation….” There is nothing wrong (generally) with repetitive questioning, other than this academic’s claim otherwise and (perhaps) bad U.S. TV contributing to this erroneous perception. Direct claims of lying are bad? I see – I’m sure the Crown usually accepts everything the accused claims on the stand without a grain of salt (insert sarcasm).

An interesting point she makes is that Judith Herman (?) states if one were intentionally setting up a system for harassing victims, it would look like what we have (paraphrasing). I don’t think Herman is correct, but if she is, maybe court is not a good option altogether. Perhaps the presumption of innocence itself is entirely incompatible with giving the required respect to complainants. Perhaps we should automatically convict (which is pretty close to what already occurs)? Maybe there should another way of investigating, prosecuting, defending, rehabilitating altogether? I don’t know, but I’m certainly open to ideas.

Note a respected lawyer’s recent, public comment that “Public confidence — to the extent that there is any — in the court’s ability to adequately manage sexual assault cases is so fragile as it is,” as I tweeted. Perhaps an entirely new system is required, and pretending to respect both the presumption of innocence and the dignity of the complainant (and of course, the “truth” that “victims” rarely – if ever – lie) is just not working? Note the telling comment of another prominent academic (now judge) that “we have to be as careful as we can to ensure that that price [of the presumption of innocence] is no greater than it has to be” (emphasis added, see here) – see also here. Something to think about for the Supreme Court (I will not discuss its latest atrocity in R. v. G.F., 2021 SCC 20 here, other than to link to my Twitter thread on it).

She continues about the “loss of confidence in our criminal justice system” – made popular through the #MeToo movement. Yes. It would be nice if our Courts (Supreme and otherwise), along with academics and practitioners, were less influenced by this stuff – to the direct detriment of the presumption of innocence.

At the risk of repeating myself, the presumption of innocence demands that we believe no witness or charge before trial. If her claim that people don’t lie about this stuff is true, there’s no point in running a trial, and the burden of proof is reversed from the get-go. This is exactly the problem, and one that appears to be entirely missed by these academics and arguably ideological courts (not that they haven’t been made aware of the problem – they simply refuse to acknowledge it, let alone deal with it). Note also that there is (theoretically, anyway) no initial presumption that a witness is telling the truth (R. v. Semple, 2015 ONCA 562, at para. 3).

She makes the very ironic point that law is saturated with psychological assumptions, yet lawyers are “psychologically illiterate”. She fails to note that some areas of law are also saturated with erroneous sociological assumptions – far more dangerous.

The presumption of innocence is hardly mentioned – except in the context that it should not require the presumption of lying on the complainant’s part.

Tellingly, she claims that debate in Parliament about advance notice (of complainant’s communications – s. 278) illustrates this “justice gap”!
She asks rhetorically, “How is argument for necessity of ambush at trial any different than claiming defence should have right to catch them in a lie?” It’s not! It’s “problematically predicated on assumption that SA complainants routinely lie” – maybe or maybe not, but they certainly sometimes lie. Your presumption that they never do is precisely what is problematic – especially if the presumption of innocence is not mere BS that judges go on about before convicting. My favourite part is perhaps 4:41 – “every reform on behalf of complainants is met with serious pushback from the defence bar” – if only!

She quotes Janine Benedet, “anytime accused argues consent, he is saying the complainant is a liar.” CORRECT! I thought the presumption of innocence was a thing – in some countries at some points in history, anyway. Of course, presumably, if the defence is it never happened, he’s also claiming the complainant’s a liar. I guess anything other than a quick, remorseful guilty plea – followed by a very harsh sentence to reflect denunciation and deterrence, is entirely inconsistent with her worldview?

This is blatant #MeToo. We should at least be honest – go straight to sentence. Don’t waste time, effort and your client’s funds banging your head against the wall (if you have the misfortune of being accused or defence counsel) by bringing a s. 276 application, a s. 278 “reverse disclosure” application, mounting any other kind of defence, or arguing about consent or honest but mistaken belief. Go to jail – go directly to jail. Hope for some leniency on a guilty plea. You are obviously guilty (by the nature of the charges) so stop wasting our time (at both trial and if you have the audacity to – gasp! – challenge your conviction on appeal) – an approach that is unfortunately mirrored at our appellate courts – most notably our highest Court in Ottawa. If you get killed in jail by virtue of being called a “skinner” that’s just too bad.

Alan Gold’s rebuttal is pretty solid, considering “the circumstances.” He points out that sexual assault laws are now ridiculously complicated, moreso than tax law. He raises specific concerns with the focus and laws themselves. He points out (at 4:50) that defence rarely questions the credibility of a complainant – merely her reliability – in other words, they rarely call her a liar. I don’t blame him for taking this defensive stance, but I think it’s wrong – credibility is usually the main issue, and being afraid to call the complainant a liar is one of the main problems I think I’ve addressed.

He points out the problem of assuming the conclusion (I think “affirming the consequent”?) when we assume that delay in calling police, for example, is indicative of trauma, when the event itself having occurred may be what’s at question. He also deals with relevance and specific stereotypes, as does Randall. He closes by pointing out that more education of the bar is needed – not incorrect, but it does not confront the actual problem (not that it’s an easy fix). The laws are a mess and are themselves the problem, and our society’s and profession’s refusal to deal with this fiasco is a bigger problem.

Law Blog

Book Review: Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault and the Failure of the Legal Profession

9 Comments

61Ddb8AtgsLI read Professor Elaine Craig’s 2018 book: Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault and the Failure of the Legal Profession a year or so ago, and felt quite unsettled. I wanted to address it in a blog post, but then convinced myself that no one would take the book seriously. I then saw that the Supreme Court of Canada cited it approvingly twice in 2019, and changed my position. I decided to read it again and blog about it.

She gets off to a bad start:

Imagine a society – one that purports to be a rule of law society – in which one segment of the population regularly engages in harmful acts of sexual violation against another segment of the community with almost complete legal immunity. Canada is such a society… (p. 3).

I see – let’s blame the justice system for sexual violence? She immediately follows up with “over ninety percent of sexual assaults in Canada go unreported”. More on this in a minute.

One of the primary sources of data relied upon in this book is trial transcripts:

Transcripts from twenty recent sexual assault trials in Canada were examined…Given the difficulty and expense of securing trial transcripts, I pursued either cases where there was some reference to the length or style of defence counsel’s cross-examination of the complainant in a reported decision… stereotypical thinking had informed the trial judge’s reasoning… The twenty cases for which transcripts were obtained are not relied upon to make assertions about the problematic practices that they arguably reveal. [emphasis added] – pp. 17-18.

This is highly problematic – the author looks at only twenty trial transcripts. She readily admits that she focused on cases where “stereotypical thinking had informed the trial judge’s reasoning”. Despite her assertion that they’re not relied upon to “make assertions about the problematic practices that they arguably reveal” – this is exactly what she tries to do. Even if she didn’t, the fact that she’s looking at only cases that appear to be problematic tells us from the get-go that she’s looking for problems. This is by no means a thorough analysis of sexual assault trials in Canada – the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s merely pointing to problematic cases and telling us what Craig views as wrong with them.

She continues: “A legal system in which more than nine out of every ten sexual assaults receive no legal scrutiny is a profoundly dysfunctional legal system” – p. 22. This is profoundly incorrect. Firstly, she’s already established that nine out of ten assaults go unreported. Second, even if she’s referring to the remaining ten percent, again, the fault for sexual violence does not lie squarely at the feet of the justice system – not by a long shot. There can be a million other reasons why nine out of every ten sexual assaults (alleged and/or actual) receive no legal scrutiny (other than the lack of reporting), and many of them have nothing to do with the justice system. It is difficult to conceive how Professor Craig expects to be taken seriously – by anyone – and not as a shock jock. Oh, wait – she was cited at least twice last year by our country’s highest court.

She goes on and on about defence lawyers and their insidious efforts to “whack the complainant”. This is quite unfair. Yes, I am open to a nuanced discussion about the role of defence counsel (alongside other players in the justice system). Perhaps defence lawyers occasionally cross boundaries (ethical or otherwise), and she certainly goes to great pains to suggest that this is a regular occurrence. She neglects to mention that the system is quite human: prosecutors, judges, and academics are also not immune to biases and to overstepping boundaries. Many would agree that a breach of any obligation by a prosecutor or judge towards the accused is a far greater crime than a defence lawyer being (perhaps) too harsh while cross examining a complainant. This, of course, assumes great importance is given to the central tenet of the presumption of innocence in our criminal justice system – a tenet that Craig reluctantly pays lip service to.

Accused are generally in an unfortunate position. If they’re falsely accused (or not), they’re up against a system which is highly unfavourable: they’re typically less than sympathetic, they may have been denied bail for multiple months, their lawyer is an underpaid and overworked Legal Aid lawyer, and they sometimes show up to trial in prison clothes. Why would anyone expect them to have a fair trial?

Cross-examination is critical – particularly in the context of a sexual assault trial where the testimony of the opposing parties is often all there is. It is basically all the defence has – and the Crown has, assuming the presumption of innocence is not displaced. See, for example, para. 7 of R v Quintero-Gelvez, 2019 ABCA 17 (CanLII):

Cross-examination has been repeatedly described as a matter of fundamental importance that is integral to the conduct of a fair trial and a meaningful application of the presumption of innocence: see R v Osolin, 1993 CanLII 54 (SCC), [1993] 4 SCR 595 at pp 663-65. The principles of fundamental justice include the right to a fair trial and to make full answer and defence. A fair trial must be one which is perceived to have been conducted fairly; see R v Switzer, 2014 ABCA 129 at para 5.

Note that the Crown is by no means expected to “go gentle” on the accused. If the accused has the gall to testify, he or she can expect a rigorous (and yes – often, demeaning, degrading, etc.) cross-examination by the Crown. Of course, Craig would like it to be a one-way street – no-holds-barred on questioning the accused, but don’t step on anyone’s toes while questioning the complainant. Somehow, we’ll keep the presumption of innocence intact, as well.

She makes a decent point about aggression: “Beginning in law school and continuing throughout their professional development, lawyers (and in particular criminal lawyers) are socialized or even trained to value aggressive, unrelenting advocacy” (p. 98). I agree – it would certainly be nice if aggression were celebrated less in this profession. In the meantime, I don’t recommend criminal defence lawyers tone down the aggression – particularly if the Crown is ripping the head off the accused.

Many of her other points are just stupid. We should get rid of the big portraits of the Queen in courthouses – see page 184. Reduce legalese in the courtroom (not a bad idea, actually). Complainants should be allowed to sit during their testimony (there’s really no reason why they won’t be, and judges routinely allow them this courtesy). All sexual assault decisions should be reported – as in reported in CanLII. Judges need tons of education about rape myths (read: reminders about how badly their career will go if they’re caught saying the wrong thing to the complainant) … Not surprisingly, some of her ideas about mandated judicial education are currently being paraded about in Parliament.

SB and Ghomeshi

I don’t want to get into extensive discussions about some of the cases and transcripts she reviews. Suffice it to say that she presents a very skewed version of what happened, all in an attempt to make her points. For example:

In R v B(S) the section 276 ruling…was even worse…SB was acquitted and the Crown appealed. The Newfoundland Court of Appeal found that the use of evidence of the complainant’s other sexual activity in this case gratuitously denigrated and humiliated the complainant, and triggered the discriminatory twin myths in front of the jury” (p. 51).

She spends a considerable amount of time going through much of the transcript, in an effort to show the depths to which senior defence counsel in that case resorted to in questioning the complainant. Conspicuously absent is any mention of the fact that the complainant had lied quite seriously on the stand, and it was a large part of the reason why the majority of the Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal. For reference, in R. v S.B., 2016 NLCA 20 (CanLII), the majority of the Court of Appeal found that, although defence counsel had gone too far in its defence of the accused, the lies said by the complainant were sufficient enough to not order a new trial (see para. 86). Not surprisingly, the Supreme Court of Canada (in a one-line judgment of a unanimous 7-panel forum, at R. v. S.B., 2017 SCC 16 (CanLII)), disagreed with that result, and sided with the minority opinion. I would be interested to know the result of the retrial – on the off chance that the Crown went ahead with it. In any event, the main takeaway from the case should be “BAD DEFENCE LAWYER” and not “holy crap – that complainant was unable to say the truth if her life depended on it”. Her discussion of the Wagar case (unfortunately not a reported decision, but appealed at R v Wagar, 2015 ABCA 327 (CanLII), and subject to much media and academic criticism – incidentally the result was correct and the language used arguably was, as well – the 1,000-page transcript can be found here and the subsequent acquittal at the retrial here) and many others is similar.

She skims over the R. v. Ghomeshi, 2016 ONCJ 155 (CanLII) brouhaha:

To be clear, the much-discussed cross-examinations of the complainants in R v Ghomeshi did not appear from the transcripts to involve the types of practices examined in the previous chapter and later in this chapter. While the trial process was profoundly traumatic for the women who testified against Ghomeshi, defence counsel’s conduct of the case is not to blame for their experiences (pp. 62-63).

Craig otherwise glosses over this important trial, and does not mention the intense media and public criticism of the decision (not to mention the reprehensible legislation that arose as a direct result of it). Do you know who else the trial was profoundly traumatic for? The accused person. Oh, and if defence counsel is not to blame for the trauma experienced by the women who testified against Ghomeshi, who is? Their own foolishness? Or perhaps the abject failure of our criminal justice system to automatically believe complainants and convict those accused of sexual assault without bothering to pester complainants with the “traumatic” process of a trial?

For a thoughtful analysis of the Ghomeshi decision, see Joshua Sealy-Harrington’s thorough post in Ablawg (July 2022 edit: I criticize it subsequently here). Also, see Kyla Lee’s excellent blog post.

Rape Myths

Regarding the substantive content of “rape shield legislation” and our sexual assault laws, I have several concerns with these. While she relies on these in making some of her points, they are problematic for a number of reasons, and I’ll address those briefly now.

For example, see L’Heureux-Dubé J.’s dissent in R. v. Osolin, 1993 CanLII 54 (SCC):

They include myths that deem certain types of women “unrapable” and others, because of their occupations or previous sexual history, unworthy of belief.  These myths suggest that women by their behaviour or appearance may be responsible for the occurrence of sexual assault.  They suggest that drug use or dependence on social assistance are relevant to the issue of credibility as to consent.  They suggest that the presence of certain emotional reactions and immediate reporting of the assault, despite all of the barriers that might discourage such reports, lend credibility to the assault report, whereas the opposite reactions lead to the conclusion that the complainant must be fabricating the event.  Furthermore, they are built on the suggestion that women, out of spite, fickleness or fantasy and despite the obvious trauma for victims in many, if not most, sexual assault trials, are inclined to lie about sexual assault.  The net result has been that sexual assaults are, and continue to be, underreported and underprosecuted; furthermore, the level of convictions that result in those cases that do reach the courts is significantly lower than for other offences. [Emphasis added.]

See also L’Heureux-Dubé J.’s dissent in R. v. Seaboyer; R. v. Gayme, 1991 CanLII 76 (SCC):

Sixty percent of those who tried reasoning with their attackers, and 60% of those who resisted actively by fighting or using weapon [sic] were injured.  Every sexual assault incident is unique and so many factors are unknown (physical size of victims and offenders, verbal or physical threats, etc.) that no single course of action can be recommended unqualifiedly.

In practice, this leads to the absurd result that no reaction of a complainant can be assessed or criticized. How dare we assume what a reasonable reaction should have been?

L’Heureux-Dubé J. continues:

  1. Reporting Rape. Two conflicting expectations exist concerning the reporting of rape.  One is that if a woman is raped she will be too upset and ashamed to report it, and hence most of the time this crime goes unreported.  The other is that if a woman is raped she will be so upset that she will report it.  Both expectations exist simultaneously. […]

  2. Woman as Fickle and Full of Spite. Another stereotype is that the feminine character is especially filled with malice.  Woman is seen as fickle and as seeking revenge on past lovers. […]

  3. Disputing That Sex Occurred. That females fantasize rape is another common stereotype.  Females are assumed to make up stories that sex occurred when in fact nothing happened. . . . Similarly, women are thought to fabricate the sexual activity not as part of a fantasy life, but out of spite.

I assume the basis for the “rape myth” that women lie about sexual assault stems from these clearly highly-researched points from L’Heureux-Dubé J. Notwithstanding the fact that this particular “myth” appears to be demonstrably true, it continues to have a firm grip on our Canadian criminal justice system.

It is said (and apparently it’s a “rape myth”) that people routinely lie about sexual assault. See an article titled: 1 in 7 sexual assault cases in 2017 deemed ‘unfounded’: StatsCan:

Last year, 14 per cent of sexual assaults reported to police were given the “unfounded” classification, down from 19 per cent in 2016. The figure is double the seven per cent of unfounded cases identified among all criminal incidents in Canada last year.

See Statistics Canada:

Nationally, the proportion of sexual assaults deemed unfounded decreased in 2017

In 2017, 14% of sexual assaults (levels 1, 2, and 3) reported to police were classified as unfounded, down from 19% in 2016 (Table 2; Chart 3) (see Text box 1).Note  A heightened awareness about sexual assaults and how they are classified may have had an impact on how other types of incidents were classified in 2017. For example, the proportion of physical assaults (levels 1, 2, and 3) classified as unfounded also decreased, though to a lesser extent (from 11% in 2016 to 9% in 2017) (Table 3; Chart 3).

These numbers make articles like this quite difficult to understand: Dispelling the myths about sexual assault:

Myth: Women lie and make up stories about being sexually assaulted.

Fact: The number of false reports for sexual assault is very low, consistent with the number of false reports for other crimes in Canada. Sexual assault carries such a stigma that many women prefer not to report.

Perhaps L’Heureux-Dubé J. was writing in the ’90s, before the prevalence of the internet, and possibly the numbers were different back then and/or more difficult to confirm. Or she made stuff up. Either way, I have trouble understanding why it continues to be currently considered good law.

A good example of a recent case that attempts to carefully consider the law along with the testimony of the witnesses at trial is R. v. J.E., 2019 NLSC 231 (CanLII). Incidentally, the Justice in this case happens to be Justice Stack, who is harshly criticized by Craig in her book, for his reasoning in the S.B. case.