A man who’s spent much of his life fighting the scourge of racism in society says he feels dangerous offender designations are being handed out too frequently.
Bob Hughes heads up the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism.
He says in his opinion far too many Aboriginal offenders are being declared dangerous and it’s a black mark that can leave them locked up indefinitely.
Hughes says this month alone, there are two cases of Aboriginal men arguing against dangerous offender designations before the courts in Saskatchewan and he says the designations are being handed down far too often.
“An indeterminate sentence (dangerous offender designation) is sort of Canada’s death penalty and it really takes away a lot of hope,” he says.
Hughes also wants judges who are ruling whether or not to label an Aboriginal person as a dangerous offender to take the “Gladue factor” into account.
Currently, judges are required to take into account the backgrounds of Aboriginal offenders during sentencing.
Factors like upbringing, abuse and whether they attended residential schools are things that are taken into account with the Gladue factor.
The Gladue factor’s purpose is to reduce the vast over-representation of Aboriginal people in the justice system.
Hughes says Saskatchewan Justice also needs to raise what qualifies as the level of criminal activity that must take place before a request for a dangerous offender designation can be triggered.