Mandatory Minimum Sentences and Women with Disabilities

This article examines the issue of mandatory minimum sentencing from the unique perspective of women with disabilities. Concerns about the discriminatory application of mandatory minimum sentences are outlined and analyzed from a gendered disability perspective, as are concerns about the devaluation of the lives of persons with disabilities through the support of reduced sentences for those convicted of murdering persons with disabilities. This examination makes it clear that the different concerns of women with disabilities are difficult to reconcile, as they mandate contradictory positions with respect to the possible abolition of the sentencing practice. The challenges inherent in the development of a position that addresses all of the concerns of women with disabilities relating to the practice of mandatory minimum sentencing, and its possible abolition, are analyzed. The author concludes that if the practice of mandatory minimum sentencing is abolished, it must be replaced with a sentencing mechanism designed to ensure that sentencing discretion is exercised in accordance with Charter values, in order to protect the equality rights of all persons, including women with disabilities