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Racializing Terror: Reassessing the Motive of the Motive Clause.
- Source :
- Manitoba Law Journal; 2023, Vol. 46 Issue 6, p1-30, 30p
- Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- This paper reviews the legislative history and application of the Criminal Code's definition of terrorist activity to trace how the "motive clause" reinforces systemic racism within Canada's criminal justice system. By outlining this process, this paper argues that the motive clause contributes to a dynamic that racializes terror offences as a specific type of criminal offence committed by racialized individuals--marking terrorism as a unique social characteristic of racialized communities. This occurs mainly due to the legislative requirement to prosecute the ideas of accused persons, which, in practice, has increased the likelihood of courts admitting otherwise prejudicial evidence against the accused and the problematic ways in which expert evidence has (or has not) been used in terrorism trials. Although discrimination may not be an inevitable or intended outcome of the drafted legislation, it creates a framework that encourages discriminatory prosecutorial strategies, facilitates bias in the admission and treatment of some evidence, and potentially contributes to the exclusive use of the provisions against racialized communities specifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- LEGISLATIVE histories
CRIMINAL justice system
JUSTICE administration
CRIMINAL law
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00763861
- Volume :
- 46
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Manitoba Law Journal
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 176139639