Are we Flipping Coins with the Liberty of Potentially Dangerous Individuals?: A Comparative Analysis
Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
The concept of dangerousness in Canadian and French criminal law is a central component in the development of prophylactic measures, such as section 810.1 and 810.2 of the 'Criminal Code' and similar French provisions. The imposition of preventive measures to control the risk of future behaviour of potentially dangerous individuals relies on inexact science to determine and assess dangerousness. In the last decades, several risk assessment tools have been developed, notably some in Canada, but their reliability in predicting dangerousness varies. The objectivity and reliability of a determination of dangerousness can be affected not only by the type of risk assessment tool used by clinicians in the assessment of dangerousness, but also by factors such as the procedural setting in which the evidence is treated. When compared to the Canadian scheme, the French non-adversarial setting offers new alternatives and procedural safeguards in determining and controlling dangerousness.
Recommended Citation
Sébastien David Martineau, Are we Flipping Coins with the Liberty of Potentially Dangerous Individuals?: A Comparative Analysis (LLM Thesis, Dalhousie University, 2011) [unpublished].
