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Canadian justice system
The challenges of racially profiling in policing
Racial profiling by law enforcement
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The Canadian justice system, although much evolved, is having difficulty eliminating bias from the legal system. Abdurahman Ibrahim Hassan, a 39 year old man, died on June 11 in a Peterborough hospital, while under immigration detention. He came to Canada in 1993 as a refugee and was suffering from mental, and physical health issues such as diabetes and bipolar disorder. There was an overwhelming amount of secrecy surrounding the death of this troubled Toronto man, and to this day no light has been shed on this tragedy. (Keung, 2015) An analysis of the official version of the law will reveal how race class and gender coincide with the bias within the legal system.
The law is seen in two ways; as being fair, neutral and having an unbiased arbitrator,
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3). The law claims to be fair, impartial and concerned with neutrality and equality. (Hulbert, 2010). It is concerned with justice, but in reality seems to be discriminatory. Justice is a lot more than solving a situation that seems problematic but is also constituted by considerations of substantive justice. (Hulbert, 2010). The law, in theory, is objective and without bias but in practice can be opaque and discriminatory. Abdirahman Abdi 37-year old man is one of many to experience the cruel reality of the law and its practices. On Sunday, July 24th at 9:30 am the police received multiple calls about a disturbance at a coffee shop in Ottawa. The police arrived, pursued Abdirahman Abdi and arrested him 250 meters from his apartment building. Witnesses say that Abdirahman was beaten with a baton and pepper sprayed. A very graphic video showed Abdirahman on the ground handcuffed with blood surrounding him while the officer held him to the ground with a knee. One of the eyewitnesses Zainab Abdallah tried to intervene, she pleaded with the officers telling them that Abdi has a mental illness, but that did not deter them. Abdirahman was dead 45 minutes before receiving medical attention. What has been questioned by black lives matter …show more content…
This relation believes that the “law shapes --and is shaped by-- the society in which it operates (Elizabeth Comack,2014) As people our interactions and experiences are administered by our social positioning in society, and that social location is conditioned by three key elements: our race, class, and gender. These three elements have been used to divide, separate and categorize society. (Comeck,2014) . Racial profiling is something that I believe is extremely evident in Canada. Racial profiling is defined as targeting individuals for law enforcement based on the colour of their skin, which can lead to practices like carding. (Chan, 2007). Carding is a police practice that involves stopping, questioning and documenting people in mostly non-criminal encounters. (Chan, 2007) Stopping people on the street for no reason to ask them who they are, and what they are up to is outrageous and can have fatal consequences. On September 24, 2014, at 10:00pm Jermaine Carby was sitting in the passenger seat of his friend’s car while out for a drive. They were pulled over for a traffic stop in Brampton by a Peel police officer. This police officer went around to the passenger’s side and asked Carby for his identity so he could card him. When conducting this street check the officer discovered the Vancouver had a warrant for his arrest. Allegedly, this is when Carby started threatening officers with a large knife. A knife that witnesses nor
Maidment, M. (2009). When justice is a game: Unravelling wrongful convictions in Canada. Canada: Fernwood Publishing.
In 1759, the Canadian Court Justice system was brought to Canada by the French. After the battle of Quebec, all of Canada then followed the English common law system except for Quebec 1. Based on my understanding and knowledge of N. Christie’s arguments and the Canadian court system, I believe that Christie’s criticism of modern legal system is fair and it effects our current court system today.
Historically, Canada has held a world renowned reputation as nation with a magnanimous ideological approach to providing asylum to those individuals subjected to marginalization and persecution in their homeland – regardless of their nation of origin (Ismaili, 2011, p.89 & 92). Indeed, providing sanctuary to refugees who would otherwise experience significant hardships ranging from blatant discrimination and racism to torture and genocide, has very much become an institutionalized aspect of Canadian society. However, recent changes to Canada’s immigration policy delineated in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Bill C-31 may have perhaps put this ideology in peril (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, 2001).
In the article “Point: Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement is Unjust”, Adele Cassola determines that racial profiling is an extensive problem in policing across Canada. She identifies that racial profiling is based on stereotypes of race, ethnicity, and cultural background with African-Canadians, Arab-Canadians, and Aboriginal Canadians being targeted most frequently. Racial profiling is not unique to law enforcement and immigration, Cassola asserts, “it is a wide spread problem within other institutions and establishments as well” (2009). She discovered a survey that showed Toronto's African-Canadian secondary school students were stopped four times more frequently and searched six times more frequently than their non-black classmates. In an article from the Toronto Star newspaper in 2002, Cassola notes that African-Canadians were subject...
Tator, H., & Henry, F. (2006). Racial profiling in Canada: Challenging the myth of 'a few bad apples'. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press Incorporated.
Over the past centuries, Black community in Toronto have encountered and persisted violence and discriminations in many different ways. Racial profiling and carding are the two major roots of police brutality. Police officers often have biased perceptions and negative feelings about certain races. Carding can be defined as random police checks that target young African-Canadian men. Police might detain a driver for driving a specific type of vehicle or driving in certain areas that they have assumptions about. “This practice was a systematic violation of the rights of people in our communities, especially of racialized youth” (CBC ABC National, June 1, 2015). Carding results in police abusing their power which leads to assaults, shootings and death. However, police have said
The Canadian Criminal Justice System is, for the most part, reflective of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and various Supreme Court of Canada case-law. Everyone who finds themselves on the opposing end of the Criminal Justice System is entitled to certain protections every step of the way, beginning even before the arrest; laws protect us from unreasonable investigative techniques, guarantee certain rights at point of arrest, and provide us with the right to counsel. The bail court departs from the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard in that the crown only needs to prove on a balance of probabilities (Kellough, 1996, p. 175) in order to take away a person’s freedom. It is for this reason I decided to limit the scope of my observations to the bail court. What I found is a systemic evidence of a two-tier justice system. In this essay, I will outline the roles of the 'regular players' of the bail court and demonstrate how the current bail process essentially transforms the Canadian Criminal Justice System into a two-tier system where the affluent and powerful are able to receive preferential treatment over the poor.
Both males and females amongst the aboriginals are overrepresented in the various levels of secured custody. However, based on the enormity of the native involvement in the Canadian Penal System, there have been a number of commissions meant to resolve the dilemma regarding the aboriginal people (Crnovich 2005 : 8). While both the premises of the aboriginal and also the contemporary models related to justice have been identified as being mu...
The Canadian Justice system has failed its mandate of creating a just and peaceful society for all in regards to treatment of immigrants. Our current system of operations of indefinite immigrant detention is in desperate need of revitalization for as it stands it is one of the weakest and most unnecessarily components of our legislature. As proven through differing worldwide policies a limitation can be applied effectively and national security may still be maintained. Clear limits to the practice of detention are in place in both the European Union and in the United States. In the EU, detention is capped at six months with the possibility of extending to 18 months in certain cases. In the U.S., the period of presumptive release is six months,
Wrongful convictions in Canada is a very sensitive and disturbing topic that has created concerns as to why individuals are being wrongfully convicted. As people in Canada read about cases involving wrongful conviction, such as Guy Paul Morin, Rubin Carter and David Millguard, it often undermines their faith in the criminal justice system. Tunnel vision, the use of questionable DNA evidence, and eyewitness misidentification are the three main causes of wrongful convictions in Canada. Recognizing and addressing these concerns has led to a reduction in cases of wrongful convictions in Canada.
The symbol of the Canadian judicial system is the balanced scales of justice. When a wrongful act is committed, the scales of justice are greatly misplaced and require a solution to counterbalance the crime and restore balance. Additionally, the scales represent the idea that law should be viewed objectively and the determination of innocence should be made without bias. The Canadian criminal justice system encapsulates the idea of the scale of justice, to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate the law. One of the most important aspects of this system is that an individual charged with a criminal offence is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The current system has two prevailing methods involved in the process of dealing with crime: Retributive and restorative justice. This paper will analyze aspects of retributive justice and restorative justice, with reference to their respective philosophies, for the purpose of finding which is more effective at achieving justice and maintaining balance.
Youth and juvenile crime is a common and serious issue in current society, and people, especially parents and educators, are pretty worried about the trend of this problem. According to Bala and Roberts, around 17% of criminals were youths, compared to 8% of Canadian population ranging between 12 to 18 years of age between 2003 and 2004 (2006, p37). As a big federal country, Canada has taken a series of actions since 1908. So far, there are three justice acts in the history of Canadian juvenile justice system, the 1908 Juvenile Delinquents Act, the 1982 Young Offenders Act, and the 2003 Youth Criminal Justice Act. In Canada, the judicial system and the principle of these laws have been debated for a long time. This paper will discuss how these three laws were defined and why one was replaced by another.
In every society around the world, the law is affecting everyone since it shapes the behavior and sense of right and wrong for every citizen in society. Laws are meant to control a society’s behavior by outlining the accepted forms of conduct. The law is designed as a neutral aspect existent to solve society’s problems, a system specially designed to provide people with peace and order. The legal system runs more efficiently when people understand the laws they are intended to follow along with their legal rights and responsibilities.
Officers are trained and taught different polices that require them not to be biased towards any gender or race. Such officers include Sunil Dutta, if you don’t want to get shot, tasted pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you.” (Dutta) uses policies to their advantage. Lack of African-American officers, mainly in communities with citizens of color, can lead to an inquiry that there is a bias in law enforcement agencies and their policies. With recent events in the news displaying the misconduct of officers in an African-American communities like, in July of 2014, where the death of Eric Garner because of “chokehold” by a police officer hit home for many African-Americans and made them question the legislative decisions on policies causing a distrust and lack of confidence within the police departments, shying away citizens from
Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2000. 167-186. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secon Ogawa, Brian K. Color of Justice: Culturally Sensitive Treatment of Minority Crime Victims. Allen and Bacon: Needham Heights, MA, 1999. Saleh Hanna, Viviane.