Fournier Pascale, Pascal Mcdougall, and Anna R. Dekker. 2012. Dishonour, Provocation and Culture: Through the Beholder's Eye? Canadian Criminal Law Review. 16(2): 161-193. This article examined how socio-legal hybridity manifests itself in the nation of honour in law, whilst sketching a definition and history of honour crimes and their variations in both the “East” and “West”. The article aimed to outline how honour is found intertwined with many other emotions in violent crimes internationally, and not just in the East, a common perspective of cultural otherness surrounding these crimes. The article further investigated Canadian courts and their translation of honour crimes within a framework of existing legal tools, with special reference …show more content…
The provocation defence has at times sanctioned deep cultural notions of marital unity and individual male honour. The paper affirmed that although forms that femicides take in different parts of the globe cannot be perfectly equated, the idea that the West does not have honour-based murders and does not support them whatsoever are false assumptions. In the final part of this article, the reception and legal treatment of honour crimes and femicide in Canada was assessed. Data were collected from a series of Canadian cases of intimate femicide in which male defendants (husbands, brothers, or fathers) raised the provocation defence. The sample included 56 cases, sorted by ethnic background of the defendants and the success or failure of the defence, and spanned the period from January 1990 to January 2010. Only cases which were appealed to provincial courts of appeals or to the Supreme Court of Canada were used. Though a low success rate for use of the defence was found for both categories of defendants – Western and …show more content…
The study found that instead of artificial binaries, there seemed to be a “passion/honour continuum.” Though honour crimes present unique sociological characteristics which must be acknowledged for effective prevention policies to be created, it was asserted that recognizing the distinctness of Eastern honour violence should not belittle other forms of abuse against women occurring internationally, including those taking place in the West. Future research was suggested in order to further dissect the correlation between success of provocation the defence and ethnicity. The provocation defence and its potential abolishment is something that went beyond the scope of this article and would require further analysis and an examination of the costs and benefits of the defence. Though a brief genealogy section was provided, future research would be needed to trace the historical roots of honour crimes on a case-by-case basis that considers the complexities of legal system globalization. The paper maintained that intimate passion crimes are a particularly important locus of public policy and gender equality concerns. Results and conclusions of this paper
The Canadian criminal justice system is often represented by the balanced scales of justice. These scales symbolize the need for the law to be viewed objectively in order to ensure a fair determination of innocence. Ideally, the criminal justice system should incorporate the values of the scales of justice to control crime and impose penalties on those who violate the law (Jordan, 2014). When dealing with crime, this system mainly uses methods of retributive justice in order to achieve its goals. However, despite justice being supposedly impartial, there is an overwhelming amount of injustice in all stages of the criminal justice process, from the charging of the individuals in court to their sentence in prison (Jordan, 2014). To combat this
In conclusion, this article is an eye-opening one that does not necessarily paint Canada’s justice system in a great light. Razack shows through the use of examples how Aboriginal people are treated differently and perceived to be lower than whites on the hierarchy of society, and how this lead to the lack of justice in the murder of Pamela George. It is disheartening to think that simply because she was an Aboriginal and a prostitute that her life is considered less important than those of her (white) murderers, but this is the light that Razack brings to the argument, and she does so
Canadian Criminals are a major part of Canadian society. In our country if you were not the direct victim of a crime you tend to forget the members of society that take pleasure in causing societies grief. As in the case of James Hutchinson and Richard Ambrose, whose crimes were committed in December of 1974.1 They were convicted of killing two Moncton City Police officers. Today, years after the murders were committed Ambrose and Hutchinson are still the center of a major controversy that has plagued our parole system. In order to fully understand the controversy that Ambrose and Hutchinson posses you must look at the
Introduction Society tends to view conflicts as incidents that have a negative impact on people and therefore tries to decrease how often they occur. In Conflicts as Property, Nils Christie questions this societal tendency by stating many ways in which conflicts are beneficial as a whole. He argues the importance of people taking ownership for their conflicts and being able to control them without third party interference. Summary In Conflicts as Property, Nils Christie’s main point is that victims should be the owner of their conflict and that in today’s society; third parties hold most of the power regarding conflicts.
A closer in depth analysis into Canada’s justice system will show that their acceptance of all cultures did not leak through to the confinements of its courts. Why it is that one race or class is more likely to be an inmate? From a racial standpoint,
Domestic violence against women is prevalent in almost all the societies in the world. It is an issue which was not even recognised as a crime 40 years ago and is still not recognized as a crime by many societies. Women suffer from violence, including physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological violence by strangers and their partners all over the world (Kaya, 2010). Even though it is a worldwide occurrence, there are some women who face more intense and frequent violence depending on their culture, country, religion,
In March of 2012, a white power rally in Edmonton drew out a dozen or two members of the Blood and Honour racist group. They were met and peaceably challenged by hundreds of participants in an anti-racism rally, which was "coincidental" (Dykstra). Therefore Canada still does have lurking racism, but in its overt forms it is socially unacceptable. This paper will address the overt forms of racism evident in Canada, which include hate groups like Blood and Honour. However, it is the covert forms of racism and bias that threaten to undermine the social fabric of Canada.
How often do we stop to think about the minorities of this country and how they become involved and are treated in the criminal justice system? I surmise; only some of us will concern ourselves with such details. For some like myself; we might work with individuals of the Aboriginal community or have interacted with members of this group whether through school or work. Canada “had an Aboriginal identity in 2011 of 4 % or 1.4 million people” (Kelly-Scott and Smith, 2015). Of this total there is a gross overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in Canada’s Criminal Justice System. This overrepresentation of Aboriginals in the CJS comes as a result of socio economic factors, sentencing reforms, systemic discrimination, education and employment and victimization of Aboriginal women. In partial fulfilment of this course, this paper will address the leading factors which has led to the overrepresentation of this group in the CJS.
Sexual assault is one of the most challenging issues that must be dealt with within the Canadian legal system. Sexual assault is defined as sexual activity inflicted upon someone without their given consent. In order for a sexual assault to be eligible for that title, a person committing sexual acts must continue to engage without the consent of the other person. Sexual assault is also heavily related to the rape myths that exist within society and these are the decisive factors when resolving a sexual assault case. These rape myths generally target the victim of sexual assault blaming them for the actions that occurred. The first case involving consent and rape myths to ever reach the Supreme Court of Canada to be resolved is the case of
Wrongful conviction is an issue that has plagued the Canadian Justice System since it came to be. It is an issue that is hard to sort out between horrific crimes and society’s desire to find truth and justice. Incidences of wrongful conviction hit close to home right here in Saskatchewan as well as across the entire nation. Experts claim “each miscarriage of justice, however, deals a blow to society’s confidence in the legal justice system” (Schmalleger, Volk, 2014, 131). Professionals in the criminal justice field such as police, forensic analyst, and prosecutors must all be held accountable for their implications in wrongful convictions. There are several reasons for wrongful convictions such as racial bias, false confessions, jailhouse
In recent years the issue of mass incarceration in the United States and Canada has begun to take a spotlight in the media, government and public discourse. This paper will examine how Canada incarcerates Aboriginals at much higher rates than those who are not of Aboriginal descent. By examining the culture clash between Aboriginals and the rest of the population and the socio-economic conditions they live in, this paper will show that the criminal justice system works against them, therefore leading to mass incarceration. Finally, this paper will make suggestions as to how the criminal justice system can change in order to reduce the incarceration rates of Aboriginal peoples.
The novel “Three Day Road” intertwines the story of a young soldier during the First World War and the experiences of his aunt growing up in pre-20th century Canada. Though at face-value this seems to have little relation to the study of the Criminal Justice system, the two narratives tackle important issues. With the soldier’s experiences, the reader contemplates the place of law and justice on the battlefields and the effect of these actions once the war is over. As we learn about the life of the soldier’s aunt, we are made aware of the wrongs done to Native American people in Canada’s history and how this is still having repercussions. By reading “Three Day Road,” people involved in the justice
This essay will critically analyse the significant changes that have occurred within domestic violence which is viewed as a vital subject within the criminal justice system. It will explore the way that domestic violence has progressively become a concerning issue in the criminal justice system from being relatively acceptable in recent history. In addition to this, the essay will explore legislation changes in relation to domestic violence and how the police have arguably been forced to change their attitudes towards a problem that was once thought of as a private regard. It will critically analyse the theories put forward as to why domestic violence occurs in today’s society. It will explore the weaknesses within the criminal justice system, especially the police in regards to domestic violence, the police previously viewed domestic violence as a matter of which they should not get involved. However as mentioned in the essay, after many reviews within the system, many improvements have been made to help protect the victim.
Throughout the history of Canada, we have acknowledged Indigenous cultures as being the first people of Canadian land. However, society has not treated them as equal members of society since the first explorers settled. The Euro-Canadian culture has impacted the Indigenous people negatively; as a result injustice between the two cultures has developed and inequality has widened as the two cultures interact more frequently. Lisa Monchalin (2016), author of the text The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada, noted multiple reasons how Aboriginal people are discriminated against in society, and how they are over-represented in Canadian correctional system. In society, according to Aylsworth, L., and Trovato, F. (2012) of The Canadian Encyclopedia, the indigenous population was approximately 4.3% of the total Canadian population, yet, the 2015-2016 Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator noted “an unabated increase in the number of Indigenous people behind bars, a rate now surpassing 25% of the total federal incarcerated population” (2016, n.p.). This raised the question as to why there was such a blatant over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system. Indigenous history has been speckled with injustices, hardship, discrimination, racism, and have been on the receiving end of multiple attempts to rid Canada of Indigenous ways and people. The history of these
Thesis statement : Domestic violence is a very important social issue because it has a large negative affect on the victims. Even though Domestic violence can be caused by either male or female it is usually caused by the male due to the large physical advantage. This essay will discuss the history of domestic violence, as well as explain the different types, and ways to prevent it.