Research note: Revisiting the collection of "justice statistics by race" in Canada

Canadian Journal of Law and Society

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 97-104

  Owusu Bempah, Akwasi ^a   Millar, Paul ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 77954673000     PISSN: 08293201     EISSN: 19110227     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0829320100010231     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. We believe that the more commonly used phrase "race-crime statistics" presupposes an association between race and crime; we have therefore decided instead to use the term "justice statistics by race." For the purposes of this article, the term "justice statistics by race" denotes criminal justice statistics that would identify the race of suspects, accused persons, offenders, and victims of crime, as well as the race of individuals working within the system.
2. The arguments for and against the collection of justice statistics by race are outlined in detail below.
3. For example, the African Canadian Legal Clinic has been a vocal advocate for the collection of race-based criminal justice statistics: see African Canadian Legal Clinic, Disaggregated Data Collection (Race Based Statistics): Policy Paper (Toronto: African Canadian Legal Clinic, 2009).
4. M. Tonry, "Ethnicity, Crime, and Immigration," in Ethnicity, Crime, and Immigration: A Review of Research, ed. M. Tonry (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997).
5. J.V. Roberts, "Race, Crime and the Collection of Criminal Justice Statistics," in Crimes of Colour: Racialization and the Criminal Justice System, ed. W. Chan & K. Mirchandi, 101-12 (Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2001);
6. D.M. Tanovich, The Colour of Justice: Policing Race in Canada (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2006).
7. J.V. Roberts, Statistics on Race and Crime: A Canadian Dilemma (Ottawa: University of Ottawa, 1992).
8. Similar comments were made by a Toronto police sergeant in relation to the involvement of mainland Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants in crime in the Asian community: J.P. Johnston, "Academic Approaches to Race Crime Statistics Do Not Justify Their Collection," Canadian Journal of Criminology 36, 2 (1994).
9. J.P. Johnston, Canadian Journal of Criminology Ibid., 166.
10. K.. Haggerty, Making Crime Count (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001).
11. S. Fine, "StatsCan Dropping Scheme to Tie Crime Statistics to Ethnic Groups," Globe and Mail (Toronto), 31 July 1990.
12. See A.N. Doob, Workshop on Collecting Race and Ethnicity Statistics in the Criminal Justice System (Toronto: Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto, 1991).
13. K. Hatt, "Reservations about Race and Crime Statistics," Canadian Journal of Criminology 36, 2 (1994), 164-5;
14. Johnston, "Academic Approaches"; J.V. Roberts, "Crime and Race Statistics - Toward a Canadian Solution," Canadian Journal of Criminology 36, 2 (1994), 175-85;
15. T. Gabor, "The Suppression of Crime Statistics on Race and Ethnicity - The Price of Political Correctness," Canadian Journal of Criminology 36, 2 (1994), 153-63.
16. P. Knepper, "Race, Racism and Crime Statistics," Southern University Law Review 24, 1 (1996), 71-111;
17. S. Wortley, "A Northern Taboo: Research on Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice in Canada," Canadian Journal of Criminology 41, 2 (1999), 261-71;
18. Haggerty, Making Crime Count, Roberts, "Race, Crime."
19. S. Wortley, The Collection of Race-Based Statistics within the Criminal Justice and Educational Systems: A Report for the Ontario Human Rights Commission (Toronto: Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2005).
20. Report of the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System (Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1995);
21. R. Ferguson, T. Talaga, and L. Brown, "McGuinty Eyes Race Stats," Toronto Star, 15 November 2008.
22. Hatt, "Reservations about Race and Crime Statistics," 164.
23. Doob, Workshop, 3.
24. Doob, Workshop, 3. Ibid.
25. J. Rankin and B. Powell, "The Criminals Among Us: Not as Many Lawbreakers as Canadians Believe Are Members of Visible Minorities, Survey Shows," Toronto Star, 21 July 2008, A1.
26. "Race" is put in quotation marks here to denote contestation over the use of the term in social scientific inquiry: UNESCO, Statement on Race and Racial Prejudice (Paris: UNESCO, 1967);
27. American Sociological Association, The Importance of Collecting Data and Doing Scientific Research on Race (Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, 2003). While race is primarily a social and not a biological construct, its consequences are nonetheless very real.
28. For a detailed discussion see A. Montagu, Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race, 6th ed. (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1997);
29. A. Memmi, Racism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000).
30. J. Lewington, "Learning Lessons Anything But Elementary," Globe and Mail (Toronto), 22 January 2007, A9.
31. Doob, Workshop; Roberts, "Crime and Race Statistics"; Wortley, "A Northern Taboo."
32. R. Weitzer and S. Tuch, Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
33. Wortley, "A Northern Taboo."
34. The prospect of increased transparency and accountability is likely a contributing factors in the criminal justice system's seeming reluctance to collect and publish criminal justice statistics disaggregated by race.
35. R. v. Gladue, [1999] 1 S.C.R. 688.
36. S. Wortley, "The Collection and Use of Statistics on Race and Crime: An Issues and Options Paper" (Toronto: Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System, 1994).
37. J.V. Roberts and T. Gabor, "Lombrosian Wine in a New Bottle: Research on Crime and Race," Canadian Journal of Criminology 32 (1990), 291-313.
38. Rankin and Powell, "The Criminals Among Us."