Race and Criminal Justice in Canada

The relationship between race and crime has long been a subject of study in the United States; however, such analysis is more recent in Canada. A major factor impeding such study is the fact that racial/ethnic data are not routinely collected and available in Canada, unlike the United States. The collection of such data would arguably undermine the multi-cultural mosaic of Canada as a place of acceptance and tolerance. However, the lack of such data bellies research suggesting that race plays a role in the Canadian criminal justice system. Using available, albeit, limited research studies and their data, the role of race is evident throughout the justice system. Thee findings of this study are placed within a theoretical context emphasizing structural sources of differential treatment in the Canadian justice system. It may be time for Canada to recognize the fact that race plays a role in the justice system and formally collect and document the nature and extent of its role

Police Homicide: Race and Ethnicity

During the pandemic, routines were interrupted lives were changed and during this time, many individuals spent more time watching the news to learn more about how long it would take to resume normalcy. When George Floyd was murdered by four police officers, time stood still and the world watched. Outrage was immediate. The pandemic offered everyone the opportunity to witness tragedy unfold in front of them a brutality which happens every day, yet is easily ignored. This article examines the incidence of police homicides of people of color, the lack of law enforcement to seek solutions to their own internal structures and policies to correct these outrages, and the need for external accountability through legal and policy changes. Case studies are provided to illustrate the depth of issue

The sociology of law: a conflik perspektive

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Violence Against Gays and Lesbians

While the issues of women and the criminal justice system have become an increasingly significant area of both study and policy, issues surrounding gays and lesbians have largely been ignored. A review of the literature suggests this is largely an omission. In discussing sodomy laws and the homosexual panic defense, the discriminatory nature of the law becomes apparent. Significant in the history of the criminal justice system and the discipline of criminal justice is the predominantly macho, quasi-militaristic nature of the field. A discussion of the military policy regarding gays and lesbians is an example of institutional discrimination which fosters antipathy toward gays and lesbians in larger society

The last acceptable prejudice: an overview of LGBT social and criminal injustice issues within the USA

The intolerance of, and discrimination against, gays and lesbians is not a new concept. Yet, as many parts of the world have begun to socially and legally recognize gay rights, in many ways, the USA has lagged behind. An overview of past and present lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social and criminal justice within the USA are presented. Also, specific recommendations are made for the future in an effort to put an end to this last acceptable prejudice

Homicide and Indigenous peoples in North America: A structural analysis

Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States experience high levels of homicide and violence. In fact, the Indigenous homicide rate is the highest of any racial and ethnic group in either country. Of particular concern, is the amount of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. While violence has been subject to vast research in Canada and the United States, most of the literature focuses upon the micro factors. These types of explanations however, largely fail to provide the historical and structural framework for understanding violence affecting Indigenous peoples. For instance, the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls must not be separated from the structural embeddedness of colonialism and the impacts of patriarchy. While the history of colonialism is usually evoked within the literature to provide context, this paper argues that colonialism is not only a contextual factor to situate individual violence, but rather that the embeddedness of colonialism within the political, economic, and social organization, or structure of society, leads to the continued precarity of Indigenous people to violence and victimization – particularly homicide