It is easy to be cynical about the rule of law, especially with respect to international institutions, treaties and agreements.  Sometimes, they get it right though.  The International Court of Justice's track record is encouraging, especially its January 26, 2024, overwhelming majority ruling on South Africa's proceedings against Israel under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. 

Sadly, the ICJ has no enforcement power.  It must rely on member states to create the conditions under which its rulings can be implemented.  Yet again, Canada has failed to help.  Trudeau's neglect to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is a national disgrace.  Smoke another one Justin!  And get out of the House! 

Jagmeet Singh had the courage to call for a ceasefire: the only honourable position.  The one that might stop the cruelty being perpetrated by Israel and stem the rise of Islamophobia in Canada.

Gabor Mate's new book, The Myth of Normal - Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture, is a "must-read" especially for  legal professionals.  He demonstrates that most behavioural issues and struggles are born from an overbearing and limited societal standard, that either creates trauma, ignores it's effects, or both.  He shows that a compassionate approach is necessary to cure injustice and suffering, and to create a more healthy, nurturing and healthy culture. 

In the legal context, this would  mean considering the underlying traumas behind criminal, unethical or unhealthy conduct.  The current "trauma-punishing-and-inducing system" would give rise to an empathy and compassion based system, where rehabilitation and healing are the aim, rather than judgment and punishment.  He quotes Métis scholar, former inmate and Governor General's Academic Medal winner Jesse Thistle:

All us criminals start out as normal people just like anyone else but then things happen in life that tear us apart that make us into something capable of hurting other people. That's all any of the darkness really is.  Love gone bad.  We are just broken-hearted people hurt by life.

And psychologist and former prison guard, Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia who "as a Black woman... knows institutionalized racial trauma well" :

We tend to reduce people to their behaviour: "You're a murderer, you're a robber, you're a thief." But we are not our worst behaviour. I have had the blessing to see that everyone who is incarcerated has strengths and they have the capability of loving, if only we gave them the opportunity.  It's not just people that need the healing. It's the system that has to be indicted and transformed.

It's nice to see the Court of Appeal for Ontario continues to recognize the presumption of innocence as the cornerstone of the Canadian criminal justice system; and define the reasonable person as mindful and aware of the propensity to be swept away by emotion. 

In ​​R. v. Fasoranti [2021] ONCA 138, the court delivered a thoughtful and thorough judgment on the law of bail and "the right of any person charged with an offence… not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause" under s. 11(e) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  The Court summarized at paragraph 11:

The Supreme Court has reminded judges that "[a] recognizance with sureties is one of the most onerous forms of release": R. v. Antic, [2017] 1 S.C.R. 509, [2017] S.C.J. No. 27, 2017 SCC 27, at para. 67. Bail judges must bear in mind that "pre-trial detention is extraordinary in our system of criminal justice": R. v. Morales, [1992] 3 S.C.R. 711, [1992] S.C.J. No. 98, at p. 728 S.C.R. Further, "the release of accused persons is the cardinal rule and detention, the exception": R. v. St-Cloud, [2015] 2 S.C.R. 328, [2015] S.C.J. No. 27, 2015 SCC 27, at para. 70.

In releasing the accused, a two-thirds court concluded at paragraph 49:

If a reasonably thoughtful person, one who is not prone to emotional reactions but understands our society’s fundamental values, was informed of the circumstances of this case — namely, that this applicant was released on bail, with the new plan, proposed sureties and proposed conditions — there is no doubt that their confidence...  would be maintained.

The Court set the standard of behavior and characteristics expected from the ordinary and careful person:  Someone who believes in the presumption of innocence; has common sense; possesses average intelligence; abhors injustice and unfair punishment*; and exercises an appropriate degree of care and attention. 

​*The unfortunate term we have yet to fully discard.   Corrective measures, rehabiltation, therapy would all be more congruous with the contemporary understanding of the real causes and deterrents to crime and unhealthy behaviour.

The boom in Arrtificial Intelligence ("AI") and its expansion into professional and personal life confirms the prescience and lucididty of J. Krishnamurti's 1981 inquiry relating to the computer's impact on humanity.  Will we  continue to rely on a culture of fear, illusion, compulsion, acquistion, clinging, addiction, separation and distraction? Or, will we learn to pay attention to our personal and collective suffering, confusion, contradictions, disorder, conflict, judgment, comparison and interior life?  Will social media, phones and screens be more important than ourselves?  Will we lose our autonomy and devolve in to even more mechanistic behaviours and ways of living?  Will our creativity be replaced by machines?  Will we become delusional and ignorant dullards as a result of endlessly distracting ourselves?  Will cognition, critical thinking, analysis and attention decline even more than they have in the age of social media and algorithmic bubbles?  Or can A.I. and automation provide us with the opportunity to look into ourselves more deeply to discover who we really are?  Can we discover the meaning of love, compassion, joy, beauty, understanding, and the courage to bring an ending to fear and confusion?

A recent study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology found that social isolation during pandemic lockdowns causes a decline in cognitive function.  The authors recommend taking this into consideration when imposing "pandemic related restrictive conditions" and recommend introducing "strategies to alleviate cognitive decline."