Moral self-convictions: uncontested pleas and Canadian criminal law

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dc.contributor.authorBooy, Daniel
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeIreland, David (Law)en_US
dc.contributor.examiningcommitteeTrask, Brandon (Law)en_US
dc.contributor.supervisorKhoday, Amar
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-17T21:21:54Z
dc.date.available2023-01-17T21:21:54Z
dc.date.copyright2023-01-17
dc.date.issued2023-01-17
dc.date.submitted2023-01-17T19:15:28Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplineLawen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Laws (LL.M.)en_US
dc.description.abstractAn uncontested plea allows criminal defendants to self-convict without requiring the state to prove its case against them. Uncontested pleas may be inculpatory, exculpatory, or non-inculpatory. Guilty pleas are inculpatory uncontested pleas. When a defendant pleads guilty sincerely, they formally take responsibility for the offence and accept the consequences. Exculpatory and non-inculpatory uncontested pleas include best-interest pleas like \textit{Alford} and nolo contendere pleas, respectively. When a defendant enters one of these pleas, they agree to self-convict without formally taking responsibility for the offence. Statutory language formally forbids exculpatory and non-inculpatory uncontested pleas like nolo contendere pleas in Canada. I argue that the legal and ethical objections to these pleas and plea bargaining generally in Canada are largely misplaced. Nolo contendere pleas open new avenues of plea bargaining for defendants and prosecutors to explore, creating new opportunities for certainty, factual accuracy, agency, and mutual advantage in otherwise highly adversarial proceedings. Although formally forbidden, defendants may still enter nolo contendere informally and surreptitiously. I conclude by arguing that these pleas be formalized and proposing ways to do so.en_US
dc.description.noteFebruary 2023en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipAdalsteinn Fridrikson Kristjansson Grad Fellowship Law David T. Sgayias Graduate Fellowship Trevor Anderson Fellowshipen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/37139
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsopen accessen_US
dc.subjectnolo contendereen_US
dc.subjectcriminal lawen_US
dc.subjectcriminal sentencingen_US
dc.subjectcriminal procedureen_US
dc.subjectcriminal convictionen_US
dc.subjectCanadian criminal lawen_US
dc.subjectAmerican criminal lawen_US
dc.subjectCanadian criminal procedureen_US
dc.subjectAmerican criminal procedureen_US
dc.subjectplea bargainingen_US
dc.subjectwrongful convictionsen_US
dc.subjectAmerican criminal historyen_US
dc.subjectCanadian criminal historyen_US
dc.titleMoral self-convictions: uncontested pleas and Canadian criminal lawen_US
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
local.subject.manitobanoen_US
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