{
  "id": 8236830,
  "title": "Canadian courts take police misconduct seriously, but researchers say sentencing alone can't fix a broken system",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/canadian-courts-take-police-misconduct-seriously-but-researchers-say",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-18T12:00:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-09-canadian-courts-police-misconduct-sentencing.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A study published in Police Quarterly examines how Canadian courts sentence police officers convicted of violating public trust. The research, led by Assistant Professor Danielle McNabb of Brock University and Associate Professor Kate Puddister of the University of Guelph, is the first large-scale empirical analysis of court sentencing for police misconduct. Drawing on 93 sentencing decisions involving over 100 officers between 1990 and 2024, the study reveals that judges consistently treat police criminality seriously, emphasizing denunciation and deterrence in 92% of cases. However, the researchers argue that this individualized approach fails to address the deeper systemic drivers of police misconduct. The authors propose two reforms: first, an amendment to the Criminal Code to create an officer-specific aggravating factor for crimes committed by police, ensuring consistent sentencing treatment across jurisdictions. Second, greater public transparency around case outcomes, from investigation through sentencing, to allow both the public and police to evaluate accountability mechanisms. The researchers caution that while sentencing individual officers can be a partial fix, it cannot address broader issues like departmental culture, the \"blue wall of silence,\" or disproportionate rates of police violence against marginalized communities.",
  "summary": "A study published in Police Quarterly explores how Canadian courts respond when police officers break the law. The research, co-led by Brock University Assistant Professor of Political Science Danielle McNabb and University of Guelph Associate Professor of Political Science Kate Puddister, presents the first large-scale empirical analysis of how Canadian courts sentence police officers convicted…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}