Nova Scotia judge explains why cultural assessments matter in sentencing

On Tuesday, aNova Scotia judge delayed sentencing inthe case of a 27-year-old man convicted of second-degree murder pending the completion of a rarelyused type of document assessinghowracial and heritage factors contributed to the crime.

In February,Kale Leonard Gabriel was found guilty in the 2010 shooting death ofRyan Whitein theMulgravePark public housing project.

Gabriel's defence team is preparing a type of document known as a cultural assessment, which will examine how circumstances related toGabriel's African Nova Scotianbackground led to his criminal actions.

• Kale Leonard Gabriel sentencing postponed for background assessment

Uncommon in Nova Scotia

The use of cultural assessments are extremely rare in Nova Scotia courts.

JudgePamela Williams, the chief judge of the Nova Scotia provincial court, says while she has never actually seen a cultural assessmentbefore, theyare philosophically akin to Gladue reports. Those are done onaboriginal offenders

andlook into their background circumstances which led to their offending behaviour.

"It isn't so much taking race into account per se, it's taking into consideration how race has led to systematic discrimination, marginalization and impoverishment of this group of individuals," Williams said.

While Williams can't speak on specificcases, she spoke to CBC's Maritime Noonabout the role these types of reports can play in sentencing hearings.

Better understanding

"When we understand how [offenders]have been disadvantaged in the education system, in the employment field, in other areas of society, then that will help us to better understand what has led them to these types of behaviours and choices that they've made," she said.

According to thefederal Office of the CorrectionalInvestigator, black offenders represent 9.5 per cent of the federal prison population, but only 2.9 per cent of the entire Canadian population.

Williams says the overrepresentation of aboriginals and AfricanNova Scotians in the provincial jails shows the courts need to examine options,such as cultural assessment reports,when they are available to help identify root causes of the crime.

"If a sentence can address the causes and not just the effects of crime, then perhaps we're able to reduce the likelihood of the individual coming into conflict with the law again, if sufficient types of programming are put in place for those individuals," she said.