CriminalJjustice Policy

LEGISinfo: www.parl.gc.ca/legisinfo
LEGISinfo is a valuable research tool when studying federal public policy and legislation before Parliament. This website provides access to a wide range of information relating to legislation either passed or currently before the Parliament of Canada. Included in this information are links to Parliamentary debates (Hansard), committee transcripts, major speeches in Parliament, Library of Parliament documents and other helpful links. LEGISinfo is an excellent resource to consult when beginning a new research project.

CriminalJjustice Policy

Course-level learning outcomes

By the end of this assignment you should be able to:

• conduct basic legal and public policy research
• recognize the challenges and unique nature of criminal justice policy
• explain and examine the policymaking process and the relationship between politics and public policy

CriminalJjustice Policy

Instructions

Prepare a short paper by answering the questions and following the instructions listed on a parliamentary bill. Students must access the information for this assignment from the LEGISinfo website. Be sure to select the correct Parliament and session.  Additional material may be used, including course readings. Students must include a minimum of four peer reviewed academic sources in Section 5 of this assignment.

CriminalJjustice Policy

Select one of the bills from the list below and complete the following sections. Section 1 may be completed in a list or using bullet points. Sections 2 through 5 must be completed in full paragraphs.

1. Identifying information:
   1. Full title of the bill and short title
   2. Parliament and session
   3. Sponsor (list the position, individual’s name, political party)
   4. Date introduced
   5. Date of Royal Assent
2. Summary of bill (approximately 1-2 paragraphs)
   1. What is the purpose of the bill? In your own words explain what the bill is about and what it will do. You may want to consider if the bill amends an existing statute or if the bill responds to a particular event, like a decision from the Supreme Court of Canada (note: this may not apply to your bill, not all bills are a response to a particular event).
3. Opposition and Support for the bill (approximately .5 to 1 page)
   1. What was the position of the official opposition in the House of Commons on the bill? Did they support the bill in its entirety?
   2. Did the opposition’s position on the bill change through the policymaking process? For example, did they initially oppose the bill, and then support it – or the reverse?
   3. If the opposition did not support the bill, what were their central concerns?
   4. Hint: you may want to focus on the speeches from the official opposition during the Second and Third readings in the House of Commons to complete this section. Students need only to note the position of the official opposition in the House of Commons. Information about the official opposition can be found on www.parl.gc.ca
4. Interest group and individual witness participation (approximately 1 to 2 pages)
   1. After consulting the parliamentary committee transcripts (you may use either the House of Commons or the Senate), identify the witness testimony of four interest groups (e.g. John Howard Society) or individuals (e.g. Professor Anthony Doob). Do not include the evidence from Government of Canada officials in this section (e.g. Department of Public Safety or Justice).
   2. Did these witnesses support the bill? If so, why? Evaluate the role played by some of the members of the criminal justice policy community in the policymaking process.
   3. Hint: a good paper will attempt to integrate the positions and perspectives of the witnesses, rather than simply describe. For example, instead of listing the witnesses (“First…”, “Second…”, etc), transition between their perspectives using language such as “Similarly to…” or “In opposition to…”
5. Assessment and analysis (approximately 3 to 4 pages)
   1. Imagine yourself as a member of parliament in the House of Commons. Would you support this bill? Why or why not?
   2. Support your position with academic research. In this section, you should clearly make an argument and support that argument with high quality academic research. Students are expected to incorporate a minimum of four peer reviewed sources in this section.
   3. You may use personal pronouns in this section (e.g. I would support this bill because…), however the writing must remain formal and academic.
   4. Note: support research does not need to focus on your specific bill, instead it should analyze the subject area or the general topic of your bill. For example, research on mandatory minimum sentences in general could be used to support a position on a bill that introduces a new mandatory minimum in the Criminal Code of Canada.

CriminalJjustice Policy

Bills

Please select one of the following bills to complete your assignment

• C37: Increasing Offenders’ Accountability for Victims Act (2013)
• C45: An Act respecting cannabis and to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Criminal Code and other Acts (2018)
• C83: An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (2019)
• C-13: An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Canada Evidence Act, the Competition Act and the Mutual Legal assistance in Criminal Matters Act (2014)

CriminalJjustice Policy

Format

Six to eight pages. Papers should be written in a formal, academic style, appropriate for an upper year political science course. All sections (aside from section 1) should be written in formal, full paragraph structure. You may use subheadings. Papers must be double-spaced, times roman in 12-point font and must include proper referencing and citation. The official citation style for the Department of Political Science is APA, please consult the Writing Guide for POLS Courses.

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