A Toronto judge has sentenced a man to a “lenient” 12-month jail sentence for possessing a loaded handgun, taking into account the contents of two defence reports about his impoverished history and the impact of anti-Black racism in Canada. Defence lawyers argued the sentence should be one year before credit was given for charter breaches. In his 22-page ruling, Nakatsuru wrote that important sentencing objectives can be achieved without an “undue heavy hand, but rather by punishment that is measured. But one that can begin to address, one small step at a time, the problem of the disproportionate incarceration of black offenders,” the judge wrote. That “moved the needle to a lower sentence” than what the Crown was asking, the judge wrote.

Source: thestar September 26, 2018 21:33 UTC