Canadian Public Inquiries and Accountability (From Accountability for Criminal Justice: Selected Essays, P 268-293, 1995, Philip C Stenning, ed. -- See NCJ 166936)

• NCJ Number: 166945
• Author(s): K Roach
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: University of Toronto Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: Canada

Annotation

This essay explores what is distinctive and valuable about the accountability that is promoted by public inquiries in Canada.

Abstract

The focus is on the relationship between the institutional characteristics of public inquiries and the type of accountability they promote. Public inquiries are a hybrid of judicial, executive, and legislative institutions. This paper argues that their unique institutional features allow them to hold individuals and especially organizations and society accountable in ways that courts, administrators, and legislatures cannot. The author first outlines three processes of accountability and suggests how the institutional features of public inquiries may allow them to hold individuals, organizations, and society accountable for the events investigated. Second, he tests the existence of these forms of accountability by examining three recent Canadian public inquiries appointed in response to concerns about the behavior of actors in the criminal process. One is an inquiry appointed to investigate suspected illegal behavior by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The second is an inquiry to examine the wrongful conviction of Donald Marshall, Jr., and the third is an inquiry to examine the relationship between the administration of justice and Aboriginal people. Finally, the author offers some thoughts about the future of public inquiries in Canada. 12 notes