Compassionate Sentencing : Let Crime Prevail.... Re-balancing the Scales of Justice

The judge who sentenced Kevin Morris said sentencing objectives can be achieved without an “undue heavy hand" and shouldn't be "based only upon fear."  (Dreamstime)

"It seems like not a day goes by without the media reporting yet another gun tragedy, sometimes very horrible ones. It happens in every neighbourhood. It happens in my own. None are immune from gun violence."
"People are rightfully outraged and bewildered by it. They feel powerless in its onslaught. Afraid."
"My role is to give expression to that fear. To condemn the crime and those who do it. But it is not my role to give in to that fear, no matter how strongly it seizes the community's psyche."
"Reason must control emotion in sentencing. Because in our system, a sentence is not just about the crime. It must be also about the offender."
Ontario Superior Court Justice Shaun Nakatsuru

What of those self-directed to violence? Those for whom psychopathy is a comfortable fit? What of those whose backgrounds of oppression, despair and disadvantage were similar to that of the young black male whose case the judge referred to and who make choices other than to exploit fear and violence and threaten the safety and security and well-being of general society? That young black men appear to be predisposed beyond their numbers in society to gangs and violence and illegal activity is the answer to why it is that they are over-represented in prisons.

The social background element in the numbers of misdirected black youths is yet another part of the formula whereby young black youths are over-represented as thugs involved in dealing drugs, in robberies, in brutal attacks on others -- most often those others being rival gang members, other young black youths. The fallout of those attacks often strikes out at innocent bystanders. People must be held to be responsible for their choices in life, for their status as part of a criminal element.

When forgiveness is proffered to those whose vendetta is against society in general -- or are simply indifferent to how their criminal actions impact society -- they are quite simply empowered to get on with rejecting social norms since there is a lack of consequences for their actions and society is the loser, with yet another prowling sociopath prepared to go on victimizing others. According to Judge Nakatsuru the black Canadian experience is rooted in colonialism, slavery and segregation perpetuating systemic racism.

Where black children are exposed to negative treatment in schools, through public services, government institutions and by police. All of which helps to emotionally impoverish and marginalize their community in a situation that is "cyclical and compounding". Perhaps it is the other way around; that ongoing rejection of societal norms where children are raised by single mothers lacking adequate discipline and emotional support and direction creates a backlash when those children accustom themselves to spurning the overall social contract.

As a distinct ethnic group without the identity-visibility of blacks, Jews have been oppressed, rejected, disadvantaged and preyed upon unendingly throughout their history yet they have endured without embracing the violence and antisocial tendencies the black community has. Anti-Semitism has drawn contempt and viciousness toward Jews despite that group's efforts to avoid antagonizing greater society in a designed effort to live in peace and security. Genocide failed to turn Jews to rejection of social norms; they chose respect for others, living in harmony with others, obeying the law.

"I appreciate not every young Black  child who is subject to the same pressures as you makes the choices you did. Nothing that I say here should be taken to mean that you did not have a moral choice when you committed these crimes. However, what I do say is that your choice was constrained by these forces. The young man who makes the choice to pick up a loaded illegal handgun will not likely be a product of a private school upbringing who has the security of falling back upon upper middle class family resources. Rather, he is likely to be a product of oppression, despair and disadvantage", waxed the judge in sentencing Kevin Morris, 22.

Responding to an alarm of a  home invasion, Toronto police witnessed four black men in a parking lot and stopped them. Morris leaped away with a police car attempting to cut off his escape as Morris kept running, discarding his jacket with its loaded .38-calibre revolver in its pocket. The Crown at trial sought a minimum of four years in prison, his lawyers pressed for one year. The trial jury found him guilty of possession of a loaded, prohibited firearm and related criminal offences.

According to police data, 228 shootings have occurred in Toronto in 2018, resulting in 308 victims.
Here’s how that compares with the total number of gun crime incidents in past years:

• In 2017 there was a total of 395 shootings;
• In 2016 there was a total of 407 shootings;
• In 2015 there was a total of 288 shootings;
• In 2014 there was a total of 177 shootings

Judge Nakasuru's judgement came complete with a lengthy addendum how social circumstances of blacks may lead to criminal behaviour so that "every judge on every sentencing of a Black offender" might consider that indelible fact. "The conclusion is inescapable" Justice Nakatsuru quoted from a report titled Crime, Criminal Justice and the Experience of Black Canadians in Toronto that "young Black Canadians who view the system as unjust are less likely to believe they should abide by that system's rules".

"Recognizing, as the law must, that individuals are held responsible for the acts they commit that breach the criminal law, the reality is that this choice to act may be constrained by an offender's life circumstances", wrote the judge. "I can understand why a man of your background, a young Black man, suffering from trauma, with such limited opportunities, with feelings of despair, being influenced by others, may think that I will have that gun", went on Judge Nakatsuru.

In the end the offender was given a 15-month sentence minus three months to compensate for the fact that in the melee of the chase he was slightly hit by a police car. It was a "lenient" sentence, the judge said, leaving him "taking a chance", and hoping the man he had just sentenced would respect the opportunity he was given. How likely is that to happen? The obligation of taking responsibility for oneself, for supporting oneself by working, paying taxes, being a useful part of society rather than trading in drugs and guns and robbery simply seems more rewarding for those rejecting societal norms.

The view that they are driven by circumstances beyond their control that has left them drained of the desire to live normal, worthwhile lives and should be given consideration for the emotional difficulties encountered in their formative years has a limit. That limit is reached when they pose an ongoing threat not only to the law-abiding in their own communities but to the greater community of people who commit to the social covenant of personal responsibility. Most of whom did not attend private schools, nor come from well-off families.