A Review of Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault and the Failure of the Legal Profession

• Author: Suzy Flader
• Position: Holds an Honours B.Arts Sc. from McMaster University and is currently in her third year of the combined J.D./M.P.A. program at the University of Victoria
• Pages: 174-181

APPEAL VOLUME 24

n

179

BOOK REVIEW

A REVIEW OF PUTTING TRIALS ON TRIAL:

SEXUAL ASSAULT AND THE FAILURE OF THE

LEGAL PROFESSION

Suzy Flader *

CITED: (2019) 24 Appeal 179

INTRODUCTION

In the wake of the Time’s Up and Me Too movements, Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault

and the Failure of the Legal Profe ssion provides a necessar y analysis of Can adian sexua l

assault law.1 Author Elaine Craig thoughtfully ana lyzes the statements a nd practices of

defence lawyers, Crown at torneys, and trial judges t hrough the sexual as sault trial process.

She eectively identies how the leg al profession unnecessarily a nd sometimes unlawful ly

contributes to the harms ex perienced by complainants in the sexua l assault trial process.

Craig exposes how some law yers and judges continue to violate sexua l assault laws at trials

through abusive tac tics and gender-based stereoty pes. She also sugge sts areas of reform,

where parties with in the criminal justice s ystem can help mitigate the trauma t hat sexual

assault complaina nts face. us, Craig provide s a needed step towards conceivi ng a

justice system th at gives particularly vul nerable members of Canadian society the power

to speak their tr uths.

is review explores s ome strengths and weak nesses of Craig’s book. Part I draws attention

to ve primary fac tors that contribute to the success of Craig’s book: (a) repetition of key

legal principles; (b) comparative a nalyses of the contributions of various tri al parties; (c) a

focus on the underlying fac tors aecting sexua l assault complainants at tria l; (d) descriptive

language c hoices; and (e) realistic solutions for modifying t he sexual assault tria l process.

Part II then provides two mod est criticisms of Craig’s approach.

I. CRAIG’S STRENGTHS

A. The repetition of key legal principles

Craig repeatedly iterate s several legal principles that a re crucial to her analysis of the lega l

failures of Can adian sexual ass ault law. ese include section 276 of the Criminal Code,2

which limits a law yer’s ability to examine sexu al assault complain ants about their past

sexual behav iour, and the accused’s fair trial r ights. ese reminders are usefu l for readers

unfamil iar with sexual assault law s.

* Suzy Flader holds an Hon ours B.Arts Sc. from M cMaster University and is curre ntly in her third

year of the combined J.D./M .P.A. program at the University of Vic toria. She sincerely thanks

Professor Donna Greschne r for her support and assistan ce with this paper, and Nico Bernardi

and the rest of the Appeal Edito rial Board for their revisions and enco uragement.

1 Elaine Craig, Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault and the Failure of the Legal Profession [Putting

Trial s on Tr ial ] (Montreal & Kingston: Mc Gill-Queen’s Universit y Press, 2018).

2 Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46 [Criminal Code].