The Critical Race Theory: Examination of Minority Involvement in the C

The Critical Race Theory: Examination of Minority Involvement in the Canadian Criminal Justice System The Canadian population can be characterized as a multicultural and diverse system of individuals. There is little doubt that certain minority groups posses a lifestyle and pattern of behavior inviting conflict or confrontation with the police (Fleras & Elliot, 1996). In light of this confrontation, an increase can be seen in the number of Black individuals killed in comparison to Caucasian individuals by Canadian police officers. Specifically, in 1996 the Black Action Defence Committee of Toronto noted that there were more shootings of Black civilians in Toronto than in some larger American cities such as Los Angles (Aylward, A.C. 1999). The Critical Race Theory, employed in the R.D.S case, allows Professor Glasbeek to establish a history of poor relations between the police and minorities in Nova Scotia, and also across Canada. In five cited cases, the Glasbeek article demonstrates that the criminal justice system is uniform in condoning the use of force by police officers. Further, in the event that a white male officer commits manslaughter while on duty, acquittal is likely without further appeal in almost all Canadian trials . In many cases, a jury will be selected and will consist of all Caucasian members. This is not proportional to the number of minority members of any given community, town or city. Specifically, five cases are cited to show that after a white police officer shoots an individual criminal charges are generally dismissed. However, the fact remains that visible minorities are likely to be shot more often, and to be killed more often by white police officers. Further, at each trial no jury memb... ...mination and racism have decreased in recent years, in reality, many minority individuals are negatively effected by the actions of the police, and the miscarriages of justice carried out in the Canadian court system even today (Fleras & Elliot, 1996). Even though stringent guidelines are in place in the selection of juries for trial, it still remains that less minorities actually serve on Canadian juries despite efforts to counterbalance this blatant inequality. The outcome of this imbalance is an even larger gap, or imbalance in dealing with police officers accused of and charged for killing unarmed civilians. References Aylward, A.C., The Canadian Critical Race Theory, 1999. Halifax: Ferneuld. Fleras, A., & Elliott, J. L., Unequal Relations: An Introduction to Race, Ethnic and Aboriginal Dynamics in Canada.1996. Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice Hall.