Chapter 7 Summary of Findings and Recommendations

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Chapter 7 Summary of Findings and Recommendations Recommendations Number Recommendation 1 Dedicated medical examiner’s facilities should be established in one or more major centres where all autopsies deemed necessary in cases of sudden death would be performed by qualified forensic pathologists in the service of the province. 2 There should be mandatory sharing of investigation reports between all police forces assisting in major cases. The reports should be directed to the file manager to become part of the major case management file. 3 Municipal police forces within the province who ask for assistance from the RCMP should ensure that they have in place a written agreement describing the terms, conditions and responsibilities of inter-agency relationships pursuant to the Saskatchewan Police Commission Policy Manual for Saskatchewan Municipal Police Services (2004). 4 Police should ensure that every statement taken from a young person in a major case, whether as a witness or a suspect, is both audio recorded and video recorded. 5 The Criminal Code should be amended to permit academic inquiry into jury deliberations with a view to gathering evidence of the extent to which jurors accept and apply instructions on the admissibility of evidence, particularly relating to inconsistent out of court statements. Amendments to s. 9 of the Canada Evidence Act should then be considered. 6 Every complaint to police calling into question the safety of a conviction should be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions. 7 For the better administration of justice in this province I recommend that prosecutors desist from unsolicited contact with the National Parole Board. If asked, they should confine recitation of the facts of a case to those found by the courts as expressed in the reasons of a judge sitting alone, or in a jury trial to those cited by the judge in reasons on sentencing. Prosecutors should avoid leaving the impression that they are heavily invested in a case on a personal level. 8 In all homicide cases, all trial exhibits capable of yielding forensic samples should be preserved for a minimum of 10 years. Convicted persons should be given notice after 10 years of the impending destruction of exhibits relating to their trials, allowing applications for extensions. 9 In all indictable offence cases, documentary exhibits should be scanned and stored electronically, unless a court orders otherwise. 413
Chapter 7 Summary of Findings and Recommendations Number Recommendation 10 All prosecution and police files, including police notebooks, relating to indictable offences should be retained in their original form for a year, then scanned and entered into a database where a permanent, secure electronic record can be kept. 11 Victims of crime should be informed of the resolution of their cases. 12 Compensation for wrongful conviction lies within the purview of the Executive and should remain there, but factual innocence, as the sole criterion for paying compensation, is unduly restrictive. Where a miscarriage of justice has resulted from an obvious breach of good faith in the application of standards expected of police, prosecution, or the courts, the door to compensation should not be closed for lack of proof of factual innocence. 13 The investigation of claims of wrongful conviction should be done by a review agency independent of government, established along the model of the English Criminal Cases Review Commission, replacing ministerial review under s. 696.1 of the Criminal Code. The review agency would report directly to the Court of Appeal of the province or territory which registered the conviction. 414
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Chapter 7 Summary of Findings and Recommendations

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