Aboriginal Offenders in Federal Corrections: A Profile

• NCJ Number: 183088
• Journal: Forum on Corrections Research Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2000 Pages: 10-15
• Author(s): Larry Motiuk; Mark Nafekh
• Editor(s): Larry Motiuk Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: Canada

Annotation

This article compares North American Indian, Metis, and Inuit/Innu offenders in Canada by institutional and conditional release status, admissions and releases, criminal histories, and identified needs at admission and on conditional release; additional comparisons are made between Aboriginal groupings and non-Aboriginal offenders on offense type and sentence length.

Abstract

A December 31, 1998, review of the Correctional Service of Canada's Offender Management System identified 3,107 (14 percent) Aboriginal offenders under Federal jurisdiction; 2,183 (9.9 percent) were North American Indian, 747 (3.4 percent) were Metis, and 177 (0.8 percent) were Inuit/Innu offenders. The Prairie Region accounted for the most Aboriginal offenders, being responsible for almost two-thirds of the Aboriginal offender population. The 1998 review also determined there were 2,105 (16.8 percent) Aboriginal offenders in federal institutions; this figure included 1,468 (11.7 percent) North American Indian, 514 (4.1 percent) Metis, and 123 (1 percent) Inuit/Innu offenders. About 20 percent of Federally incarcerated Aboriginal offenders were held in maximum-security institutions. There were 997 Aboriginal offenders on conditional release, including 712 (7.5 percent) North American Indian, 231 (2.4 percent) Metis, and 54 (0.6 percent) Inuit/Innu offenders. The number of Aboriginal offenders in Federal institutions increased by 6.7 percent between 1997 and 1998, while the number of Aboriginal offenders supervised under some form of conditional release increased by 10.4 percent. The average sentence length in 1998 for newly admitted Aboriginal offenders was about 3.6 years. North American Indian offenders in Federal prison were overrepresented in homicide and sex offenses and were underrepresented in robbery and drug offenses. A similar result was found for the conditional release population. In contrast, Metis offenders in institutions were underrepresented in homicide, sex offenses, robbery, and drug offenses, while Inuit/Innu offenders were overrepresented in sex offenses. Needs of Aboriginal offenders at admission are discussed, as is the usefulness of offender profiles. 4 footnotes and 7 tables