Incarceration as a Sentencing Disposition

• NCJ Number: 72325
• Author(s): R L Scanlon; R J G Beattie
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 68 pages
• Corporate Author: Canada Solicitor General
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: French; English
• Country: Canada

Annotation

A study of comparative rates of incarceration in Canada is presented, highlighting methodological discrepancies of two previous studies focusing on the topic.

Abstract

A 1967 study indicated that Canada incarcerated more persons per 100,000 population than the United States and other developed countries. In contrast, a 1974 study claimed that Canadian incarceration rates fell well behind those of the United States. In this study, incarceration rates were calculated using flow statistics, restricting the population at risk to those persons found guilty by the courts. In addition, the concept of an offense-specific rate is introduced, so that the incarceration rate is calculated as the proportion of those convicted of a particular offense who were sentenced to a term of incarceration. Thus, the rate of incarceration is equal to the number of individuals sentenced to a term of incarceration divided by the number of convictions. Incarceration rates for robbery, theft, assault causing bodily harm, breaking and entering, and offenses against the Narcotic Control Act were examined for the years 1964 through 1973. Offenses were selected on the basis of frequency of occurrence. In addition, the study focused on the prominence of incarceration as a sentencing disposition relative to other dispositions such as suspended sentence and probation. Findings show that the incarceration rate varied according to the offense. Specifically, the rate for robbery remained stable but high, with little use made of alternative sentences. In contrast, the rates for violation of the Narcotic Control Act and theft decreased significantly, with fines increasing steadily and dramatically as the alternative sentence. Both rates of assault and breaking and entering showed a moderate decrease over the years, with increased use of the suspended sentence and probation. In terms of lengths of sentences rendered by the judiciary, the study indicated an overall decline in the percentage of convictions that received penitentiary terms for the offenses of robbery, theft, and breaking and entering. Extensive tables and five references are included. --In English and French. Author abstract modified.