Isabel Grant

Isabel Grant is a Professor of Law at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC and researches on the legal responses to violence against women.

Articles by this author

“Extreme intoxication” appeal decision is yet another blow to women

The recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision holding that s. 33.1 of the Criminal Code is unconstitutional because it does not allow a defence of “extreme intoxication” for crimes of violence has revived a decades-old …

Cleaning up the mandatory minimums mess

On April 10, Independent Senator Kim Pate announced her intention to introduce a bill, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (Independence of the Judiciary), that would grant Canadian judges the authority to impose a …

Justice bill must be amended to protect sex assault victims

(This article has been translated into French.) A bill studied and amended by the Senate and now back before the House of Commons would make significant changes to the law of sexual assault in the Criminal Code. …

Les amendements au projet de loi C-51

(Cet article a été traduit de l’anglais.) Le projet de loi C-51, qui modifie de façon importante certaines dispositions du Code criminel relatives aux agressions sexuelles, a été examiné et amendé par le Sénat, et est …

Sex-assault prosecutions often fail women with mental disabilities

Women who have a psychiatric or intellectual disability are four to five times more likely than other women to be sexually assaulted. Yet discussions of “rape culture” do not typically address why these women are …

The misogyny of the so-called “rough sex” defence

Note to readers: This article contains graphic descriptions that some may find disturbing. What do Joshua Boyle, Jian Ghomeshi and Bradley Barton have in common? They all claimed “consent to rough sex,” Ghomeshi on his Facebook …