Document Type
Research Paper
Publication Date
2019
Subjects
Social Media, Crime, Criminal Code, Canada
Abstract
Over 80% of Canadians use the Internet and approximately 20 million Canadians are active on social media networks. It is not surprising that criminal activity is taking place in these global digital communities and this is raising challenges for criminal law and the criminal justice system. The Supreme Court of Canada recently recognized in R. v. K.R.J. that “[t]he rate of technological change over the past decade has fundamentally altered the social context” in which certain crimes are occurring and social media networks have given “unprecedented access to potential victims and avenues” for offending.
This annotated Criminal Code aims to be a resource for scholars, judges, Crown prosecutors and defence counsel, police, and others interested in social media and criminal law. After the relevant Criminal Code provisions in bold, a brief description of the general law related to them appear, followed by a more detailed set of case summaries that describe the application of each provision in the social media context. These summaries are concise enough to identify potentially relevant judicial decisions quickly so that readers can then consult the full decisions.
Citation Details
Benjamin Perrin, Social Media Crime in Canada: Annotated Criminal Code, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46, 2nd ed (2019).