Introduction

• Author: Steve Coughlan/Glen Luther
• Profession: Professor, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University/Associate Professor, College of Law, University of Saskatchewan
• Pages: 1-5

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CHA PTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The central goal of a proper criminal justice system must be to maintain

a balance between the individual interest of private citizens to carry on

their lives free from state interference and the communal interest in

maintaining a safe society. One of the most visible ways in which those

two goals come into conf‌lict with each other is when agents of the state

physically take control of private citizens — that is, when they exercise

their powers to detain or to arrest.

Powers to detain and arrest arise at a number of points in the crim-

inal justice system and, indeed, outside it. Travellers arriving in the

country are detained at customs. Motorists can be detained for a variety

of purposes, ranging from checking the mechanical f‌itness of the vehicle

to determining the blood-alcohol level of the driver. Someone accused of

an oence might be detained pending trial or to be assessed to determine

f‌itness to stand trial or might be detained afterward, whether pursuant

to a sentence, following a f‌inding of not being criminally responsible,

or for having been found to be a dangerous oender. Statutory schemes

authorize detention for immigration, deportation, or security-related

reasons. The police might arrest a person in order to charge them with

an oence, at a later stage if a surety for the accused’s bail withdraws or

on a bench warrant if the accused fails to appear for trial. An absconding

witness is subject to being arrested.

This book does not attempt to deal with all situations in which deten-

tions or arrests occur. Its focus is on “street-level” encounters, detentions

and arrests that occur in the course of investigating crime and laying