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Incarceration in Canada is one of the main forms of punishment, rehabilitation, or both, for the commission of an indictable offense and other offenses.
According to Statistics Canada, as of 2018/2019 there were a total of 37,854 adult offenders incarcerated in Canadian federal and provincial prisons on an average day for an incarceration rate of 127 per 100,000 population. Of these, 23,783 were in provincial/territorial custody and 14,071 were in federal custody. [1]
Young offenders are covered by the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), which was enacted in 2003. In 2018/2019, an average of 716 youth between the ages of 12 and 17 were incarcerated in Canada, for a rate of 4 per 10,000 population. This number represents a 10% decrease from the previous year and a 32% decrease from 2014-2015. [1]
Indigenous people are vastly over-represented and make up a rising share in the Canadian prison system, making up 30.04% of the offender population in 2020, compared to 4.9% of the total population.[2] In 2018-2019, the offender population included Caucasians at 54.2% and Black people at 7.2%; meanwhile, Asian people made up only 10.3%, thereby being vastly underrepresented compared to their share of the overall population at 25.3%.[3]
- ^ a b Malakieh, Jamil (December 21, 2020). "Adult and youth correctional statistics in Canada, 2018/2019". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
- ^ "Indigenous People in Federal Custody Surpasses 30%". Office of the Correctional Investigator. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ Corrections and Conditional Release: Statistical Overview 2019 (PDF) (Report). Public Safety Canada Portfolio Corrections Statistics Committee. 2019.