NCJ Number
152032
Journal
Forum on Corrections Research Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: January 1994 Pages: 13-18
Date Published
January 1994
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article reports on a literature review of Canada's policies toward female offenders and how these policies should be changed.
Abstract
Compared with other countries that have similar offending patterns or justice systems, Canada apparently makes far greater use of imprisonment for women. The use of short-term sentences in Canada seems to account for this difference. The majority of provincial sentences for women in Canada are 6 months or less, and almost 40 percent are 14 days or less. More than 25 percent of women imprisoned in Canada are sentenced for property offenses, such as shoplifting or fraud. Others are sentenced for "moral" and public-order offenses, drinking offenses, traffic offenses, or drug offenses. Only 9 percent have committed violent offenses, and these are primarily minor assaults. Three out of every 10 are admitted for failure to pay a fine. For women in Canada, imprisonment is not used in preference to alternatives but rather in the absence of alternatives. Community-based corrections programs for women must be developed to better meet the needs of female offenders. 36 footnotes