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Join Elaine Craig, associate professor in the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, for a book launch and lecture for Putting Trials on Trial: Sexual Assault and the Failure of the Legal Profession. The event is presented by the UBC Centre for Feminist Legal Studies and the UBC Criminal Law Club.
In this thorough evaluation of the legal culture and courtroom practices prevalent in sexual assault prosecutions, Elaine Craig provides an even-handed account of the ways in which the legal profession unnecessarily—and sometimes unlawfully—contributes to the trauma and re-victimization experienced by those who testify as sexual assault complainants. Gathering conclusive evidence from interviews with experienced lawyers across Canada, reported case law, lawyer memoirs, recent trial transcripts, and defence lawyers' public statements and commercial advertisements, Putting Trials on Trial demonstrates that—despite prominent contestations—complainants are regularly subjected to abusive, humiliating, and discriminatory treatment when they turn to the law to respond to sexual violations.
"A damning account of what goes on in Canadian courtrooms, filled with outrageous examples of misconduct by legal professionals, including judges, prosecutors, and defence lawyers. Craig has proven in this book what many women knew to be true already: sexual-assault trials are hellish, traumatizing experiences, and the fair dispensation of justice, in a society still steeped in a mistrust of women and women's sexuality, is unlikely." The Walrus
"This thorough and convincing book should be required reading for students and practitioners of criminal law and for the law societies that govern professional conduct. It will be a useful resource for feminists concerned about the treatment of women in sexual assault trials and the psychology professionals who deal with the aftermath suffered by victims." Quill & Quire
"Putting Trials on Trial provides a readable, though oftentimes disturbing, look at the Canadian criminal justice system’s problematic treatment of sexual assault. Craig’s book behooves the legal profession as a whole to think seriously about these recommendations." Montreal Review of Books