The number of U.S. states with criminal libel laws has been steadily declining since the 1960s, and the offense has been struck down in the United Kingdom and several former British colonies. In Canada, however, criminal libel not only continues to exist, but appears to be enjoying a resurgence, albeit one that has flown beneath the radar of Canadian lawyers, judges, and journalists, who frequently assert that criminal libel prosecutions are rare. The research reported in this article found more than 400 prosecutions since the beginning of the twenty-first century. While many of these cases were brought against people who disseminated sexual slurs against former romantic partners, in a substantial number of cases criminal libel law was used to punish citizens’ political speech, particularly speech critical of police or other justice system officials, a use wholly inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

中文翻译：

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过程就是惩罚：加拿大的刑事诽谤和政治言论

自1960年代以来，具有刑事诽谤法的美国州数量一直在稳步下降，在英国和数个前英国殖民地，这种犯罪行为已被取消。然而，在加拿大，犯罪诽谤不仅继续存在，而且似乎正在兴起，尽管这已经在加拿大律师，法官和新闻工作者的视线范围之内飞了起来，而这些律师，法官和新闻工作者经常断言刑事诽谤起诉是罕见的。自二十世纪初以来，本文报道的研究发现了400多项起诉。尽管其中许多案件是针对散布针对前浪漫伴侣的性侮辱的人提起的，但在许多案件中，刑事诽谤法被用来惩罚公民的政治言论，