Carl Baar

Court Delay Data as Social Science Evidence: The Supreme Court of Canada and “Trial Within a Reasonable Time”

This case study of how the Supreme Court of Canada responded to institutional delay in criminal cases provides a number of lessons for American courts and sociolegal scholars. Social science evidence on the pace of litigation was accepted but was inadequately understood, leading to the dismissal of unprecedented numbers of pending cases. Better ways of using expert evidence are available and need to be considered. The constitutionalizing of court delay questions also reveals a degree of judicial activism greater than that found in American courts, suggesting that those courts are moving away from a purely adversarial model.