Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice in Canada

Owusu‐Bempah, Akwasi; Wortley, Scot

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199859016.013.020

Cited by 35 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…Canadian police agencies-it is exceptionally challenging to prove or disprove claims about real or perceived racial bias in Canadian law enforcement and the administration of criminal justice (Foster and Jacobs 2017;Millar and Owusu-Bempah 2011;Mosher and Mahon-Haft 2010;Owusu-Bempah and Wortley 2014;Reasons et al 2016; UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2017; UN Working Group on Persons of African Descent 2016/2017). 3 In the absence of nationally produced and publicly accessible ethnoracialdisaggregated crime and victimization data across the criminal justice process, and given a lengthy history of embedded gendered and racialized differences in international and national laws regulating "prostitution" 4 and trafficking in persons (see, e.g., Balgamwalla 2016;Bernstein 2010;Doezema 2010;Gallagher 2010;Kaye 2017;Kempadoo 2005;Raguparan 2019;Weitzer 2011), we sought to critically analyze perceptions of racial and gender bias and sensationalism in the enforcement and prosecution of contemporary Canadian anti-trafficking and anti-prostitution laws by examining 127 prosecuted trafficking (N = 87) and commodification and prostitution (N = 40) cases.…”

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confidence: 99%

Racialized, Gendered, and Sensationalized: An examination of Canadian anti-trafficking laws, their enforcement, and their (re)presentation

Millar¹,

O’Doherty²

2020

Can. j. law soc.

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In Canada, there are persistent allegations and some empirical evidence suggesting racialized police bias; certain (non-White) groups appear to face over-enforcement as criminal suspects and under-enforcement as victims. Yet, it is challenging to prove or disprove these claims. Unlike other countries, where governments routinely publish police-reported crime and criminal court data identifying the race/ethnicity of criminal suspects and victims, Canada maintains a ban on the publication of such data. In this article, using an intersectional and critical analysis, we examine 127 prosecuted (predominantly domestic sex) trafficking cases and explore related claims of racial and gender bias together with sensationalism in the enforcement of Canadian anti-trafficking in persons laws. Our findings align with other empirical research observing the racially selective identification and prosecution of sex trafficking cases through a heteronormative and gender binary lens. Whether real or perceived, racial—alongside gender, sexuality, economic, citizenship, and occupational—bias has significant adverse consequences for the equality, liberty, security, mobility, labour, and access to justice rights of the Indigenous, Black, Arab/Muslim and other racialized communities being policed. Our data reveal a clear and pressing need to publish race-disaggregated crime and criminal court data and to challenge deeply ingrained stereotypes using various means.

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confidence: 99%

Racialized, Gendered, and Sensationalized: An examination of Canadian anti-trafficking laws, their enforcement, and their (re)presentation

Millar¹,

O’Doherty²

2020

Can. j. law soc.

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“…There is little official Canadian data on race and criminal activity and criminal justice procedure because it is not collected and/or not released (see Owusu‐Bempah and Wortley ).…”

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confidence: 99%

‘It's Kinda Punishment’: Tandem Logics and Penultimate Power in the Penal Voluntary Sector for Canadian Youth

Salole

2019

Howard J Crime Justice

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This article draws on original empirical research in Ontario, Canada which analyses penal voluntary sector practice with youth in conflict with the law. I illustrate how youth penal voluntary sector (YPVS) practice operates alongside, or in tandem with the statutory criminal justice system. I argue that examining the penal voluntary sector and the statutory criminal justice system simultaneously, or in tandem, provides fuller understandings of penal voluntary sector inclusionary (and exclusionary) control practices (Tomczak and Thompson 2019). I introduce the concept of penultimate power, which demonstrates the ability of penal voluntary sector workers to trigger criminal justice system response towards a young person in conflict with the law. My novel concepts of tandem logics and penultimate power are useful for understanding penal voluntary sector practice, explaining how seemingly contradictory approaches across state and 'community' organisations not only coexist, but depend upon the tandem relationship between the penal voluntary sector and the statutory criminal justice system.This article provides a global first examination of the youth penal voluntary sector (YPVS) and a fresh analysis of 'helping' penal power. It illustrates how the penal voluntary sector operates alongside, or in tandem with, the statutory criminal justice system. I argue that examining the penal voluntary sector and the statutory criminal justice system simultaneously, or in tandem, provides fuller understandings of penal voluntary sector inclusionary (and exclusionary) control practices. 1 I introduce the concept of penultimate power, which demonstrates the ability of penal voluntary sector workers to trigger criminal justice system responses towards a young person in conflict with the law. My novel concepts of tandem logics and penultimate power are useful for understanding penal voluntary sector practice, explaining how seemingly contradictory approaches (for example,

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“…This issue is all too familiar in the criminal justice system where the characteristics of adjudicators (Rachlinski & Wistrich, 2017), and the groups to which an accused belongs have resulted in inconsistent decision-making with the notable example of the overrepresentation of Aboriginals and African Canadians in the correctional system (Roberts & Reid, 2017;Owusu-Bempah & Wortley, 2014). Returning to the Canadian immigration detention system, this thesis' qualitative findings on the inconsistencies in ID members' decision-making is also supported by a recent report by the National Post, which states that the geographical location of a board member is another factor that can explain the variation in release orders.…”

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confidence: 99%

In Defence of Invisiblized Noncitizens: Seeking Justice in the Canadian Immigration Detention System

Coligado¹

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The Canadian immigration detention system is indefinitely holding noncitizens embodying precarious statuses without setting time limits to their deprivation of liberty. Presided over by Immigration Division board members, detention review hearings are supposed to be a means through which they can seek release. This thesis demonstrates, however, that immigration detainees have severely limited access to justice through these quasi-judicial proceedings where the evidentiary burden is shifted on to them. They face overlapping challenges in seeking legal representation while held in immigration holding centres and provincial prisons, including lack of information on their right to counsel, limited Legal Aid funding, and language barriers. Using interviews with lawyers and former detainees, and non-participant observation of detention reviews, this thesis argues immigration detainees are largely invisiblized by their limited access to justice, which is fostered by the Canadian sovereign state and its highly securitized political context that is particularly wary of racialized noncitizens. vi CHAPTER 5. DISCRETION IN DETENTION REVIEW HEARINGS .

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Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice in Canada

Cited by 35 publications

References 0 publications

Racialized, Gendered, and Sensationalized: An examination of Canadian anti-trafficking laws, their enforcement, and their (re)presentation

Racialized, Gendered, and Sensationalized: An examination of Canadian anti-trafficking laws, their enforcement, and their (re)presentation

‘It's Kinda Punishment’: Tandem Logics and Penultimate Power in the Penal Voluntary Sector for Canadian Youth

In Defence of Invisiblized Noncitizens: Seeking Justice in the Canadian Immigration Detention System

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