What's in a Definition? An Examination of the Definition of Consent in Supreme Court of Canada Sexual Assault Cases 2007-2017

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

The current study examines the Supreme Court of Canada’s application of the definition of consent in recent sexual assault cases. The sample includes 15 Supreme Court of Canada cases heard between 2007 and 2017, and published in the online legal database, QuickLaw. To be included in the final sample, the case must have discussed the issue of consent in sexual assault. We compared the language used in the cases to the definition in Canada’s Criminal Code to examine whether factors such as victim age or gender, or offender characteristics such as prior record, affect the complexity of the court deliberations. The findings demonstrate that the threshold that prosecuting attorney’s must meet in order to meet both the evidentiary and persuasive burdens of proof in Canadian sexual assault cases require case-specific nuance that poses difficulty to the establishment of strict and broad rules.

Authors

• Chelsey Lee, Simon Fraser University

• Kelsey Gushue, Simon Fraser University

• Tamara O'Doherty, Simon Fraser University