Criminal Law for Law Enforcement
Criminal law for frontline officers in a two-year police foundations diploma, built on the Criminal Code of Canada, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Charter and leading Supreme Court of Canada decisions such as Ewanchuk, Théroux, Khill and Kienapple. The course covers summary, indictable, hybrid and provincial offences, following the fictional Port Ardent police service, a cohort of students and a prosecutor who reviews police charges every week: the sources of criminal law and how to read a statute, the classification of offences, the prohibited act including voluntariness, omissions and possession, mental states and causation, parties, attempts and conspiracy, assault and offences against the person, homicide and the first officer's duties at a death scene, sexual offences and consent with a trauma-informed response, threats and stalking, theft, burglary, robbery, fraud and damage to property, weapons, firearms, drug, public order and administration of justice offences, the defences from self-defence to mental disorder, intoxication and entrapment, and a capstone that moves from a neutral timeline and an elements chart to a written charge synopsis, with runnable Python examples throughout.
LES-103 Year 1 3 credits 12 lessons · 4 h 19 min ▶ Video lessons coming soon
Offered by HSM University · Engineering Core
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Identify the sources of Canadian criminal law, including the Criminal Code, other federal statutes, the Constitution and case law, and read a provision of the Code accurately.
- Classify offences as summary conviction, indictable, hybrid or provincial, and explain what the classification means for police and the accused.
- Break an offence into its elements and explain the prohibited act, including voluntariness, omissions, circumstances, consequences and possession.
- Explain the mental elements of offences and the law of causation, and apply them to cases involving intent, knowledge, recklessness and negligence.
- Apply the law of parties, attempts and conspiracy to determine who can be charged and with what.
- Distinguish the levels of assault and related offences against the person, including the role of consent, weapons and the seriousness of harm.
- Distinguish murder, manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death, and describe the first officer's duties at a death scene.
- Explain the law of sexual assault and consent, offences involving children, uttering threats and criminal harassment, and respond to reports in a trauma-informed way.
- Apply the law of theft, possession of stolen property, break and enter, robbery, fraud and mischief, including how value grades the offence.
- Explain weapons, firearms, drug, public order and administration of justice offences, including possession and the role of lawful police conduct.
- Recognize the defences of self-defence, defence of property, necessity, duress, mental disorder, intoxication, automatism and entrapment, and gather the evidence that bears on them.
- Move from facts to charges using a neutral timeline and an elements chart, and write a charge synopsis that links every element to admissible evidence.
Course content
12 lessons · 4 h 19 min total · final exam
- 1 Sources of criminal law: the Criminal Code, statutes and the courts 22 min · quiz
- 2 Classifying offences: summary, indictable, hybrid and provincial 19 min · quiz
- 3 Elements of an offence: the prohibited act 22 min · quiz
- 4 Elements of an offence: the guilty mind and causation 21 min · quiz
- 5 Parties to an offence, attempts and conspiracy 21 min · quiz
- 6 Assault and offences against the person 21 min · quiz
- 7 Homicide: murder, manslaughter and criminal negligence 21 min · quiz
- 8 Sexual offences, threats and criminal harassment 25 min · quiz
- 9 Property offences: theft, break and enter, robbery and fraud 23 min · quiz
- 10 Weapons, drugs and public order offences 21 min · quiz
- 11 Defences: self-defence, necessity, duress, mental disorder and intoxication 22 min · quiz
- 12 Capstone: from facts to charges in a Port Ardent case file 21 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Description
Criminal law for frontline officers in a two-year police foundations diploma, built on the Criminal Code of Canada, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Charter and leading Supreme Court of Canada decisions such as Ewanchuk, Théroux, Khill and Kienapple. The course covers summary, indictable, hybrid and provincial offences, following the fictional Port Ardent police service, a cohort of students and a prosecutor who reviews police charges every week: the sources of criminal law and how to read a statute, the classification of offences, the prohibited act including voluntariness, omissions and possession, mental states and causation, parties, attempts and conspiracy, assault and offences against the person, homicide and the first officer's duties at a death scene, sexual offences and consent with a trauma-informed response, threats and stalking, theft, burglary, robbery, fraud and damage to property, weapons, firearms, drug, public order and administration of justice offences, the defences from self-defence to mental disorder, intoxication and entrapment, and a capstone that moves from a neutral timeline and an elements chart to a written charge synopsis, with runnable Python examples throughout.
Part of the Engineering stream, typically taken in year 1.