Repay the wrongfully accused
The National Post
19th January, 2010
Summary: Last week, the Attorney-General of Ontario refused compensation to two men who spent 10 years in prison for crimes they did not committ. The attorney-general based his decision on the fact that while the authorities may have been mistaken, they nonetheless acted with integrity and in the public interest. The National Post argues that this is no excuse for denying compensation to those who have been wrongfully imprisoned; in such cases, compensation should be mandatory.
Excerpt: “No one needs to be blamed. Prosecutors and peace officers may still be assumed to have acted in good faith even if their actions led to an erroneous result. But innocent citizens who end up deprived of their liberty in such cases are not bad-faith actors, either. Why should they have to pay for the Crown’s mistakes?”
