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Paradoxical Race Visibility in Canadian Sentencing Law
Resource type
Author/contributor
- Jones, Danardo (Author)
Title
Paradoxical Race Visibility in Canadian Sentencing Law
Abstract
Using insights from Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), this article illustrates how Canada’s proportionality-driven criminal sentencing structure (re)produces, invigorates, and sustains pernicious race-based discourses. Indeed, the concept of proportionality can reinforce archaic norms and notions about Black bodies’ status, belonging, identity, and worth. Moreover, the demands of proportionality, with its fixation on calibrating blame, can distort and pathologize Black lives in a perverse attempt at sentence mitigation, resulting in what I refer to as the paradox of visibility. The article uses an analysis of Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs) reports to explore paradoxical race visibility. This allows us to better comprehend and redefine the impact of incorporating race awareness into the criminal sentencing process, which can have positive and negative consequences. Indeed, introducing race at the sentencing phase is a challenging and perhaps even a paradoxical manoeuvre—but one that may also be logical insofar as we operate within the cruel illogic of white supremacy.
Publication
The Canadian Bar Review
Volume
102
Issue
2
Date
2024-09-18
Language
en
ISSN
0008-3003
Accessed
9/19/24, 4:43 PM
Library Catalog
Rights
Copyright (c) 2024 The Canadian Bar Foundation
Extra
Number: 2
Citation
Jones, D. (2024). Paradoxical Race Visibility in Canadian Sentencing Law. The Canadian Bar Review, 102(2). https://cbr.cba.org/index.php/cbr/article/view/4940
Author / Editor
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