Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once declared: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” However, if the systems created to administer and protect justice are the very sources of injustice, what happens to us as a society?
Like Gladue reports (specialized documents used in Canadian courts for Indigenous offenders outlining intergenerational trauma), enhanced pre-sentence reports (EPSRs) — sometimes called impact of race and culture assessments — have been used by criminal courts to address anti-Black racism. They explain how systemic factors shaped the path and limited the choices of offenders.
This is done to encourage fair sentencing and reduce the over-representation of Black people in prison.
