Danardo S. Jones, "Anchoring Lifeline Criminal Jurisprudence: Making the Leap from Theory to Critical Race Inspired Jurisprudence" (2022) 46:1 Dal L J.
Abstract
This article takes as a starting point the claim that anti-Black racism permeates Canadian society and finds expression in our institutions, most notably the criminal justice system. Indeed, anti-Black racism in criminal justice and its impact on Black lives are not credibly in dispute. Thus, what should concern legal scholars is the staying power or permanence of racism. In other words, should Canadian legal scholars ‘get real’ about the intractability of race? Or can anti-Black racism be effectively confronted by developing legal and evidentiary tools designed to fix, rather than dismantle, the current system? Put another way, this article aims to move from describing a well-known phenomenon—the existence of anti-Black racism in the criminal justice system—to identifying radical approaches to confront and subvert it. In that vein, this article will explore a critical question: how can we make the leap from CRT to CRT-inspired, lifeline criminal jurisprudence?