American vs. Canadian Justice

One of the interesting discussions to come out of the Conrad Black trial is about the differences in the American and Canadian criminal justice systems. Apparently, the American government is much tougher on its citizens than the Canadian. I find this odd, as I thought that the U.S. was supposed to value the individual more than we do in Canada.

Among the points made by the news reports and blogs I have been reading, is that in Canada the charges against Black likely would not be even dealt with in a criminal court. They would be resolved as a suit in a civil court, with the government not taking an interest in it. Another difference is that some of the charges (like mail fraud) that Black faces in the U.S. do not even exist here in Canada.

As well, the prosecution in the U.S. has much more influence than in Canada. For example, the prosecution gets the chance to rebut the final defence arguments, and so has the last word. Canadian lawyer Steven Skurka, in his blog about the Conrad Black trial, provides this interesting list of the differences between the legal systems of Canada and the United States.

Incidentally, Skurka was a member of the recent Maclean’s magazine panel who was a dissenting voice by predicting “Not Guilty” verdicts for all the defendants.