The Differential utilization of conditional sentences among Aboriginal offenders in Canada

Canada’s community-based custody sanction — the conditional sentence of imprisonment — came into effect in 1996 with major statutory reforms to the Criminal Code. While the new sanction was found to reduce incarceration rates among the general offender population, there has been no evidence that it resulted in decreases of incarceration among Aboriginal offenders. Now 20 years following its introduction, this study sets out to document recent trends in the use of conditional sentences and for the first time, focus on trends of Aboriginal offenders. Using a new metric, the Conditional Sentence Utilization (CSU) percent, the analyses reveal a shift in general utilization of the sanction. At the onset of the new millennium, Aboriginal offenders received a greater proportion of community-based imprisonment sentences. This pattern reversed in 2008/09 and for the next five years non-Aboriginals received a greater proportion of community based imprisonment sanctions. Analyses conducted at the provincial/territorial-level reveal widespread variation in the use of community custody among the two offending populations. In Quebec, Aboriginal offenders consistently received conditional sentences in far greater proportion to non-Aboriginals. In Manitoba, the opposite was found. The implications of these findings on criminal justice policy are discussed.