NCJ Number
219330
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2007 Pages: 109-123
Date Published
January 2007
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article critiques the finding of a study presented in a recent article in this journal, i.e., that Aboriginal youth in five Canadian cities received longer custodial sentences than non-Aboriginal youth.
Abstract
The current article argues that this finding is related to jurisdictional differences rather than racial bias. The same data is analyzed to show that the effect of race on sentence length is likely due an unequal distribution of Aboriginal young offenders across the five jurisdictions studied. The "Aboriginal" effect is likely due to different sentencing practices in different cities, combined with different proportions of Aboriginal youth in each city sample. Aboriginal youth are disproportionately likely to live in locations where long sentences are handed down to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal young offenders. The authors of the current article estimated the number of Aboriginal youth expected to live in each of the five locations. They found that the proportion of Aboriginals potentially represented in the cases examined was likely to vary significantly across the five jurisdictions. Also, there was considerable jurisdictional variation in the use of secure compared with open custody. In addition, there was significant variation in the proportion of long sentences imposed in the five Provinces. Pooling sentencing data across the five cities incorrectly indicates that Aboriginal youth are being sentenced more harshly than non-Aboriginal youth on a large scale. It cannot be concluded, therefore, that there is bias in sentencing severity across Canada regarding young Aboriginal offenders. 5 tables, 7 notes, and 8 references