[URBAN NOTE] "Convicting Jian Ghomeshi will be hard — for good reason"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star features an opinion piece by lawyer Breese Davies that makes the case for the integrity of the Canadian criminal justice system as it sets to prosecuting Jian Ghomeshi for alleged crimes. I find myself agreeing with her, mostly.

With Jian Ghomeshi about to face a packed courtroom and a daily gauntlet of jostling reporters, the stage is set for a media spectacle. Columnists will take sides. Legal pundits will pontificate. Many will be caught up in the did-he-or-didn’t-he debate and rhetoric.

But, when all is said and done — after the former CBC broadcaster is acquitted or convicted — will the public better understand our justice system? Will the country feel buoyed or soured by its close-up glimpse of how we determine guilt or innocence in emotionally charged trials?

Already, there are worrying signs that the public is being given the wrong impression of the carefully calibrated process by which we try sexual crimes in Canada. There have been calls for a presumption that complainants are telling the truth and for lowering the standard of proof that should apply in these cases.

Such calls for a justice system in which it is “easier” to secure convictions in cases of sexual assault are dangerously antithetical to basic tenets of our justice system. They threaten the fairness of criminal trials and fail to recognize that it is the person accused of a sexual offence who faces the prospect of a heavy prison sentence, inclusion on sex offender registries for years (or even life) and the associated stigma.

Just as there are myths that permeate societal thinking about sexual assault, there are also myths about the defence of sexual assault cases, which threaten to corrode public confidence in our criminal justice system.