Introduction

• Author: Steve Coughlan/Glen Luther
• Profession: Professor, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University/Associate Professor, College of Law, Saskatchewan
• Pages: 1-4

1

CHAPTER 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 var-

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

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

accused of an offence might be detained pending trial or to be assessed

to determine f‌itness to stand trial, or he might be detained afterward,

whether pursuant to a sentence, following a f‌inding of not being crim-

inally responsible, or for having been found to be a dangerous offender.

Statutory schemes authorize detention for immigration, deportation, or

security-related reasons. The police might arrest a person in order to

charge her with an offence, might arrest her at a later stage if a surety

for the accused’s bail withdraws, or might arrest her on a bench war-

rant if she 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

detention and arrest occurs. Its focus is on “street-level” encounters, de-

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