Consider impact of systemic racism before sentencing black offenders, Canadian judges

[taco.vidal]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/ca...n-judges-urged

Douglas Quan | April 25, 2017 12:09 AM ET

Canadian judges are being urged to take systemic racism into account before sentencing black criminals, similar to the special consideration often given to aboriginals who break the law.

Defence lawyers behind the push say asking judges to consider how historic discrimination and marginalization may have influenced their clients’ behaviour is not meant to be a “get-out-of-jail-free” card; it simply gives judges a fuller picture of their clients before their fates are decided.

Representatives for Legal Aid Ontario say they plan to start nudging Ontario judges to use so-called “cultural assessments” in the near future and will set aside some money for test cases.

“In Ontario, for decades, courts have recognized that black people … face systemic racism, but there hasn’t been a well-developed mechanism to deal with that,” said Wayne van der Meide, regional manager of case management and litigation.

“A cultural assessment report is the best mechanism to support judges to really understand the circumstances of the offender and how systemic racism has contributed to that person coming before the court.”

Long overdue or further down the road of a two tier, race based justice system? With either of those views, how much do you limit this or expand this? There have been many groups nationally and regionally that have been discriminated against and marginalized through Canada's history up to today.




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[CorsiHockeyLeague]

There's pretty well justified basis for 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code:

718.2 A court that imposes a sentence shall also take into consideration the following principles... (e) all available sanctions, other than imprisonment, that are reasonable in the circumstances and consistent with the harm done to victims or to the community should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.

So no, it's not necessarily an issue to do this, provided there's a factual underpinning of the same sort. However, it's not really for judges to decide this. If these activists want to include systemic racism as a sentencing consideration, they need to get Parliament to pass a law.

[Erick Estrada]

Isn't that racism in itself? You are white, you should know better and am therefore guilty of the charges. You are black, since you were born a lost cause we are going to cut you some slack. It's a slippery slope IMO. How can one accept responsibility for committing a crime when there is an excuse mechanism set in place?

[GordonBlue]

and why stop at aboriginal and black? it might as well be special consideration for anyone who isn't from a Caucasian Christian based background.
If I were a pakistani or indian criminal for example, I'd also want special racism consideration.

[GGG]

That law doesn't actually say anything about treating people differently.

It's more saying to judges look at rehabilitation options. It doesn't advocate for special treatment. It's saying make sure you understand the circumstances of aboriginal
Offenders because for the last 300-400 years we didn't.

[PsYcNeT]

Hey cool another thread for white people to complain about how stacked the system is against them.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Isn't that racism in itself? You are white, you should know better and am therefore guilty of the charges. You are black, since you were born a lost cause we are going to cut you some slack. It's a slippery slope IMO. How can one accept responsibility for committing a crime when there is an excuse mechanism set in place?

Seems like this is the racist liberal mindset. If your not a white male your a victim and need to be treated with kid gloved. Really patronizing.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Seems like this is the racist liberal mindset. If your not a white male your a victim and need to be treated with kid gloved. Really patronizing.

Maybe you should read the article. Or the posts in this thread that already clarified the fact that EE's interpretation was incorrect.

Just a suggestion. Don't like me get in the way of some good old fashioned outrage culture.

[Bill Bumface]

Ongoing Taco.Vidal Annoyed by Visible Minorities thread?

[Raekwon]

As soon as aboriginal offenders was mentioned in this thread it dropped to the bottom of the first page, it makes me sick. If this was about white people it would be the top thread for at least 30 weeks.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

As soon as aboriginal offenders was mentioned in this thread it dropped to the bottom of the first page, it makes me sick. If this was about white people it would be the top thread for at least 30 weeks.

You are just full of yourself today, worse than usual. Do you need a hug?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

As soon as aboriginal offenders was mentioned in this thread it dropped to the bottom of the first page, it makes me sick. If this was about white people it would be the top thread for at least 30 weeks.

eject eject I'm going down, tell my wife that I love her.

[CaptainCrunch]

oh and yeah, I know on further reflection, and let me do this

Whooosh

[peter12]

This is a blatantly racialist policy masquerading as multicultural anti-racism. The worst kind of double-speak actually.

[calgaryblood]

I love how people are complaining about this when Black people have been subject to racism and unfair jailing in American Jails for decades upon decades.

It has been proven that a black person will spend more time in jail for the same crime as a white person and then comes along lawyers who not only want to get rid of the racism in the courts, they want the judges to consider the racism they've faced their entire lives as well as the entire lives of their parents and grandparents and now people are outraged.

I don't see any problem with this. A lot of the crimes the people of the black community commit is a direct result of the way they've been treated for hundreds of years.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

I love how people are complaining about this when Black people have been subject to racism and unfair jailing in American Jails for decades upon decades.

It has been proven that a black person will spend more time in jail for the same crime as a white person and then comes along lawyers who not only want to get rid of the racism in the courts, they want the judges to consider the racism they've faced their entire lives as well as the entire lives of their parents and grandparents and now people are outraged.

I don't see any problem with this. A lot of the crimes the people of the black community commit is a direct result of the way they've been treated for hundreds of years.

Right.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by peter12

Right.

I think it depends on the situation, but there seems to be at least some evidence that black people in specific areas of the country (Toronto and the Atlantic provinces to name a few) have certainly been subjected to both systemic and just good old fashioned racism.

EDIT: To say nothing about what visible minorities have typically gone through in the more traditionally francophone parts of Quebec.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by peter12

Right.

Yes, don't think racism towards the black community stops in American court systems.

Even if there was absolutely none in Canadian court systems, this still makes a lot of sense.

[ThisIsAnOutrage]

It's important to remember that the call here is for considerations when determining a sentence, not guilt or innocence. No one is getting a pass on crime.

Overall, I think it's a good idea to consider a person's background when sentencing in order to arrive at the best balance of justice for the victim, punishment for the guilty, while also understanding that the former don't really lend themselves to a society free of crime on their own. I believe that social circumstances factor into a lot of the reasons that people commit crimes and if we can start to identify those factors we can tailor sentencing and rehabilitation programs to help people escape those circumstances, or build resilience and coping skills where they can't.

That said, it is unfortunate that the stronger admonitions in the law to make these kinds of considerations tend to come in the form of an explicit reminder to consider a person's race which does give the appearance of differential treatment for certain groups, even though the imbalance of people of certain races/backgrounds in the criminal justice system is well documented. The article in the opening post gives the impression that it should automatically be assumed that systemic racism played a role in the guilty coming before the court without explaining what the content of the "cultural assessment report" that is supposed to support the sentencing consideration would be or how the connection would be drawn in a specific case. It's got to be more than, "Black, lighter sentence," but you wouldn't know that from reading the article.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by peter12

This is a blatantly racialist policy masquerading as multicultural anti-racism. The worst kind of double-speak actually.

Oh... yeah... that's not true at all. It's not even a policy.

Do you believe any consideration or accountance of negative circumstances primary felt more strongly by one part of the population over another is "racialist"? Should no policy or movement exist to account for negative issues if they're not felt equally by the entire population?

Makes sense to consider a person's circumstances and history when sentencing. Happens quite regularly already, this simple suggests that systemic racism be weighed. It's not like white people go to prison and don't have their history and circumstances weighed in sentencing.