BCTA 155 ASSIGNMENT of Melanie Shulman

Due: Monday, February 25, 2019

COURT ATTENDANCE ASSIGNMENT

20%

Attend at an Ontario Court of Justice and observe a criminal procedure (a criminal trial, bail hearing,
sentencing hearing, a plea and sentencing). Take notes.

****Do NOT use a matter that is on consent (i.e. Crown and Defence are in agreement on everything.
There must be some dispute).****

Prepare a report on the experience by answering the following in FULL SENTENCES:

1. What court house did you attend (include the address)?

2. On what date did you attend?
3. What was the type of procedure that you observed? (Trial, Bail Hearing, Sentencing Hearing,
etc.) What was the name of the accused in your matter? (please ensure that the spelling is
correct – ask the court clerk during a break if you need to)
4. Was the matter heard by a Judge or a Justice of the Peace? What was the judge’s or J.P.’s
name?
5. List the other officials in attendance (e.g. Court Clerk, Court Reporter, etc.).
6. What was the offence that the accused was charged with? Name the offence and provide the
Criminal Code section(s) number(s). (For example, Theft under $5,000, sections 322 and 334 of
the Criminal Code.). List the elements of the crime charged and clearly identify the actus reus
and the mens rea. NOTE: for this question do NOT write what the person was accused of doing.
Answer this question as if you had never been to court and know NO details of this particular
person’s case. You are analyzing the section of the Code for this question – NOT the actions of
the accused.
Note: If the accused in your case was charged with multiple offences, list them all but you only
have to analyse (indicate actus reus/mens rea for) one charge.
7. Summarize the Crown’s position. Provide very specific details regarding the Crown’s theory of
the case (what is the story from the Crown’s point of view). For bail hearings, summarize the
grounds for the Crown’s argument that the court should detain the accused/place certain
conditions on the accused. For sentencing, summarize the Crown’s position for why the accused
should receive a certain sentence.
8. Summarize the Defence’s position. Provide very specific details regarding the defence’s theory
of the case (what is the story from the defence point of view – why do they take the position
that their client is not guilty). For bail hearings, summarize the grounds for the Defence’s
argument that the court should release the accused. For sentencing, summarize the Defence’s
position for why the accused should receive a certain sentence.
 9. Summarize any Witness’ testimony. A witness is anyone who took the stand and testified
(including the accused, a surety in a bail case, etc)
10. What did the judge/Justice of the Peace conclude and order? That is, how was the matter
disposed of? If the accused was found guilty, what was the sentence? If you attended a Bail
Hearing what was ordered regarding the accused’s release? What conditions of release were
imposed?
11. If the matter was adjourned, to when, for what purpose? What is the next step? (Note that
unless the matter is complete – i.e. there is a verdict and sentence - it WILL be adjourned to
another day).

GENERAL GUIDELINES

Format of Assignment:

Please provide your answers in double spaced, word processed format. Assignments should
be roughly 1000-1250 words (4 pages). Do not use essay format - number and answer the
questions. Write in full sentences throughout. Ensure that your full name and student number
are both on the assignment.

Court Room Etiquette

- Cell phone off - No talking

- No recording devices - Stand when the Judge enters and leaves
- No food or drink - Dress appropriately
- No gum chewing - Do not sling coats over the back of seat benches

NOTE: I am willing to look at a draft of your assignment and provide feedback. You MUST
send it to me by email (melanie.shulman@humber.ca) no later than 6 PM on Friday,
February 22nd, in order to receive that feedback.

Please be advised that due to the new policy on grade deductions for writing errors, I will
no longer provide feedback/corrections on writing (spelling, grammar, sentence
structure etc). Feedback will be for content only. PLEASE visit Humber’s Writing Centre
for assistance with writing errors: LRC 3rd Floor. You may need to make an appointment.
Also consider running your assignment through Grammarly.com

HAVE FUN!!!!!
 Questions 1-5 and 11 0-7.5 8-10 11-13 14-15
(out of 15) Multiple details Details mostly Details mostly Details complete and
missing or incorrect complete – 1-2 complete – 1 error free from errors
errors
Question 6 0-17 18-25 26-30 31-35
(out of 35) Section(s) of the Section(s) of the Section(s) of the Section(s) of the
Code incorrectly Code identified Code identified Code identified
identified and/or correctly but mens correctly. Mens correctly and mens
mens rea/actus reus rea/actus reus rea/actus reus rea/actus reus
incorrect or inadequately basically correct explained fully and
inadequately described and/or correctly
described. reference to
particular case is
made
Questions 7 and 8 0-17 18-25 26-30 31-35
(out of 35) Crown and/or Crown and/or Crown and/or Crown and defence
defence positions in defence positions in defence positions in positions in this
this matter not clear this matter are this matter are matter are correctly
or correct incomplete or there basically correct and and clearly
are some errors summarized summarized
adequately
Witness Testimony 0-7.5 8-10 11-13 14-15
(if any) and Witness testimony is Witness testimony Witness testimony Witness testimony (if
judge/jp’s conclusion missing (if any (if any existed) is (if any existed) is any existed) AND
(out of 15) existed) and/or basically correct and basically correct and Judge/JP’s decision is
incorrectly understandable clearly summarized. thorough, correct
summarized. (some errors/lack of Judge/JP’s decision is and clearly
Judge/JP’s decision is clarity). Judge/JP’s basically correct and summarized.
missing and/or decision is mostly clearly summarized.
incorrectly correctly
summarized summarized (some
errors/lack of clarity)

SPELLING, GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, EDITING, SENTENCE STRUCTURE:

Writing: Up to 15 marks can be deducted for writing errors. Of those, a total of 5 may be taken off for
“mechanical” errors – spelling, punctuation, careless errors, citations. The other 10 may be taken off for
basic comprehension, word choice, sentence structure, quality of writing (i.e. a lack of professionalism or
sophistication).

ERRORS/ISSUES THAT WILL RESULT IN AN AUTOMATIC GRADE OF ZERO:

1. You do not really attend court or fabricate ANY detail (note: in addition to an automatic grade of
zero, academic misconduct will be reported)
2. You choose a matter that is on consent. There MUST be a dispute between the Crown/Defence
(i.e. it can’t be a guilty plea where they agree on sentence, it can’t be a bail hearing where they
agree on conditions etc.)