Canadian Race Relations Foundation

This report was written to investigate systemic racism within the Ontario Criminal Justice System. The basic idea of the study was to track a number of cases from arrest to sentence, recording information on a substantial number of factors, for a sample of both white and black male accused. Five main categories of offences were chosen to form the basis of the study, 1) drug offences, 2) sexual assaults, 3) bail violations, 4) serious assaults and 5) robbery. Two main conclusions were reached by this study, 1) that racism in the criminal justice system begins with the bail decision, and 2) that although racism is not pervasive in every category of offence, however, it is most pervasive in drug offences, where charges occur almost exclusively through pro-active policing. Thus, the study suggests that anti-racist training is most essential at these two levels, judges in bail decisions, and attitudes of arresting officers.

Black accused are 'less' likely to have a serious criminal record (six or more previous convictions) than are whites and are more likely than whites to have no previous convictions.