RACE, GENDER, POVERTY NO REASONS FOR LENIENCY

TORONTO - The Ontario Court of Appeal has dismissed arguments that poor
black women from the Caribbean who attempt to smuggle cocaine into Canada
should escape jail time because of their race, gender and financial
circumstances.

In a judgment released yesterday, the court rejected earlier rulings by two
Superior Court judges who imposed conditional sentences on three single
mothers who acted as drug mules and attempted to smuggle cocaine on flights
from Jamaica to Toronto.

The Superior Court judges ruled the women were victims of systemic racial
and gender bias that should be considered in determining an appropriate
sentence.

Aboriginal people have been identified by the courts as a group whose
social background is relevant in sentencing.

However, the appeal court said these principles should not necessarily
apply to black women.

"There was no evidence in the mass of material adduced in these proceedings
to suggest that poor black women share a cultural perspective with respect
to punishment that is akin to the aboriginal perspective," said Justice
David Doherty, who wrote the unanimous Court of Appeal decision.

The Department of Justice appealed the Superior Court rulings because it
argued the sentences would open the floodgates for traffickers to use poor
women to smuggle cocaine.

Two of the defendants, Marsha Hamilton and Donna Mason, received
conditional sentences of between 20 and 24 months, including periods of
house arrest, after a joint hearing before Justice Casey Hill.

Ms. Hamilton and Ms. Mason were convicted of separately attempting to
smuggle drugs by swallowing pellets of cocaine worth about $35,000 to $45,000.

The third woman, Tracy-Ann Spencer, initially received a two-year
conditional sentence from Superior Court Justice Nancy Mossip in March 2003.

The 26-year old single mother of two, who came to Canada from Jamaica when
she was 16, was convicted of attempting to conceal cocaine worth $75,000 in
a false-bottomed suitcase.

The appeal court ordered Ms. Spencer to serve a 20-month jail sentence in
addition to her conditional sentence because she attempted to import a
greater quantity of cocaine than the other two women.

The appeal court said it would not order Ms. Hamilton and Ms. Mason to
spend time in jail since their conditional sentences are almost over.

Judge Hill had questioned the wisdom of putting the women in jail and noted
the "annualized cost" of a female prisoner in the Canadian penitentiary
system is $155,000.

However, in the appeal court ruling, Judge Doherty wrote: "A sentencing
proceeding is not the forum in which to right perceived societal wrongs.
The trial judge does appear to have assumed the combined role of advocate,
witness and judge."