NCJ Number
227222
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 51 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2009 Pages: 169-198
Date Published
April 2009
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This report presents a detailed description of the scope of women's imprisonment in Canada since the early 1980s, so as to determine whether women's imprisonment in Canada has followed the trend toward increasing punitiveness observed in a number of other western nations.
Abstract
Using one of the most common measures of punitiveness - sentenced admissions to prison - this study found that women's imprisonment in Canada has not increased over the last 25 years. Despite some fluctuation over time, total sentenced admission rates have not shown an overall increase. This suggests that the increased punitiveness experienced in other nations is not occurring in Canada. The portrait of female imprisonment in Canada, however, is not as simple as admissions data would suggest. The examination of Federal court data show an increase in levels of women's incarceration over time, but interpreting this as a more general expansion in women's imprisonment would be misleading. The increase has not been sufficiently large to denote a trend; and only 3 percent of all women receiving custodial sentences are sent to Federal penitentiaries. The vast majority of women serve their prison time in provincial institutions. Of concern, however, is data from one Province, Ontario, which show an important and disturbing trend, i.e., a large and growing proportion of women in pretrial detention. More attention should be given to the increase in the rate of pretrial detention for women. 9 figures, 1 table, 21 notes, and 43 references