HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html
True Justice Is Blind
Pubdate: Sat, 18 Feb 2006
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Toronto Star
Contact: http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
TRUE JUSTICE IS BLIND
An Orangeville area man is charged after police bust a marijuana
grow-op in his home, seizing almost 600 plants. A judge with the
Ontario Superior Court later tosses out the charges after expressing
criticism of the investigating officer's methods.
Is that justice?
The answer, surprisingly, is yes.
Police may have a case against Van Trong Nguyen. But how he was
caught prompted Superior Court Justice Emile Kruzick last week to
stay the charges.
An Ontario Provincial Police officer identified Nguyen and other
Vietnamese Canadian community members through a land title search. He
focused on them because of previous incidents of Vietnamese Canadians
being involved in grow-ops.
"It is a stereotypical assumption that because some grow operations
have been run by East Asians, that anyone purchasing a new home who
is Vietnamese must be conducting a grow operation," Mr. Justice
Kruzick ruled, further noting that convicting Nguyen would have the
effect of condoning racial profiling and would have brought the
administration of justice into disrepute.
There is a growing realization that racial profiling, by which police
ascribe certain criminal behaviours to members of identifiable
groups, is not only odious, but also risky and ineffective.
The fact that some officers continue to judge people based on "a
stereotypical assumption," in Mr. Justice Kruzick's words, is troubling.
This concern applies not only when police profile members of the
Vietnamese community, but also blacks, Arabs or other groups.
True justice is blind; it knows not colour, race, gender or creed.
Mr. Justice Kruzick deserves praise for reinforcing this vital legal principle.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman