Alberta Court of Appeal says sentencing has been inconsistent as some judges minimize importance of Indigenous-related hardships
Alberta’s top court has cut the prison term of an Indigenous man who choked a woman nearly to death in front of two of her young children to four years from nine, ruling that even in crimes of serious violence, federal law requires judges to consider Indigenous ancestry when handing down a sentence.AlbertaThe court said judges should try to walk in the shoes of Indigenous offenders before they sentence them.
The result of that reasoning process for judges may be to reduce the offender’s responsibility for the crime. The question for the justice system in Rockie Rabbit’s case was how to find a sentence proportionate to both the seriousness of his crime and to the challenges of his upbringing and personal circumstances as an Indigenous man.
Mr. Rabbit, who was about 30 at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty to attempted choking and aggravated assault, and expressed remorse. The defence asked Provincial Court Justice C.J. Sharpe for a three-year sentence, and the prosecution sought six years. Justice Sharpe went much further, saying “Gladue factors” – that is, difficulties related to the offender’s Indigenous background – “cannot justify a sentence that ignores the seriousness of the offences and the harm done to the victim.
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