Racism to factor into sentencing, judge says

Systemic racism and discrimination should be taken into account when African-Canadians are sentenced, a Toronto judge said Monday, in order to address the issue of their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.

But Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru declined to apply the approach used in sentencing Indigenous people to the sentencing of Jamaal Jackson, who is Black.

The sentencing of Indigenous people is unique and their special recognition is enshrined in the Criminal Code, he noted.

Jackson, 33, pleaded guilty last year to possession of a loaded gun and breaching a court order prohibiting him from having such weapons. He has a long and serious criminal record.

At his sentencing hearing last month, defence lawyers Emily Lam and Faisal Mirza asked Nakatsuru for a new way of sentencing Black offenders, similar to the way courts consider the history of Indigenous people.

Jackson’s lawyers provided the judge with studies on antiBlack racism, and an Impact of Race and Cultural Assessment (IRCA) report written by Halifax social worker and sociologist Robert Wright. The IRCA included interviews with Jackson and his family about his childhood in Cole Harbour, N.S., and his experiences with racism and economic disadvantage. Nakatsuru said the report painted a “fuller picture” of Jackson’s slide into criminality.

But while Nakatsuru said that alternatives to incarceration would be appropriate in some situations, this case required a prison sentence.