Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin has urged Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to reinstate plea deals with three accused masterminds behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The deals, which were initially struck and then revoked last week, have sparked backlash from families of 9/11 victims and some lawmakers, who argue that the agreements would deny justice to the victims and their families.
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario prosecutors employed a policy to divert certain impaired driving cases away from criminal courts to alleviate court congestion. Crown prosecutors offered plea deals that downgraded charges to Highway Traffic Act offenses, resulting in fines, license suspensions, and loss of license under the act instead of criminal trials and potential records. However, the Ford government lacks internal tracking systems to monitor the number of cases that benefited from this policy. The policy remains in effect despite criticism from MADD Canada, which expresses concerns about mixed messages regarding zero-tolerance approaches to drunk driving and the actual consequences faced by offenders.
