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Putting trials on trial : sexual assault and the failure of the legal profession / Elaine Craig.

by Craig, Elaine.

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McGill-Queen's University Press, 2018.

345.710253 C886p

Trials (Rape) -- Canada.

Rape -- Law and legislation -- Canada.

9780773552777 (hc.)

Alternate title:

Sexual assault and the failure of the legal profession

xi, 307 pages ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Sexual assault and the legal profession -- Pendulum swings and matriarchal justice : debunking defence counsel myths -- A kinder and gentler approach? : interrogating the heroes of the defence bar -- The sexual assault lawyer's justice project -- The role of the Crown in sexual assault trials -- Judging sexual assault trials -- Judicial error in sexual assault cases -- We owe a responsibility.

"In Canada, it is estimated that 90 per cent of sexual assaults are not reported and that less than 1 per cent of perpetrators will receive any form of legal sanction. Following the scandals of the Jian Ghomeshi trial and former justice Robin Camp's remark that a complainant should have kept her "knees together," sexual assault court cases and the conduct of judges and defense counsel have been thrown into the spotlight. In this thorough evaluation of the legal culture and courtroom practices prevalent in sexual assault litigation, Elaine Craig provides an even-handed account of the ways in which the legal profession unnecessarily and sometimes unlawfully contributes to the trauma and re-victimization experienced by those who testify as sexual assault complainants. Gathering conclusive evidence from interviews with experienced lawyers across Canada, reported case law, lawyer memoirs, recent trial transcripts, and defence lawyers' public statements and commercial advertisements this book demonstrates that - despite prominent contestations - complainants are regularly subjected to abusive, humiliating, and discriminatory treatment when they turn to the law to respond to violations of their sexual integrity. Dealing not only with the practices and perspectives of defence lawyers but also the role of Crown attorneys and trial judges, the book further examines how the legal profession can better respond to, and remedy, some of the factors that make sexual assault proceedings distressing for complainants. In pursuit of law practices that better recognize the needs of survivors of sexual assault, Putting Trials on Trial makes serious, substantiated, and necessary claims about the ethical and cultural failures of the Canadian legal profession. Elaine Craig is associate professor in the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University"--Provided by publisher.

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