Disparities in decision and sentencing outcomes between Indigenous accused and White accused in youth courts in Canada, 2016/2017 to 2022/2023
Released: 2026-10-15
After controlling for crime severity, Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) accused in youth courts in Canada were overall slightly more likely to receive a guilty decision than White accused, and much more likely to receive a sentence of custody, during the period from 2016/2017 to 2022/2023.
The Juristat article "Disparities in decision and sentencing outcomes between Indigenous accused and White accused in youth courts in Canada, 2016/2017 to 2022/2023," released today, uses linked data from the Integrated Criminal Court Survey and the Census of Population to examine the disparities between these groups at specific stages of the court process.
The overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the Canadian criminal justice system is well documented. While this Juristat article does not account for broader contributing factors, such as colonization, disparities in court outcomes should be considered within this context.
Indigenous youth are overrepresented as accused in youth courts
Despite comprising 8% of the total youth population in Canada, Indigenous youth represented 27% of the accused in youth courts from 2016/2017 to 2022/2023. In comparison, White youth accounted for 60% of the total youth population, but they represented 52% of accused in youth courts.
The large majority of Indigenous accused in youth courts were First Nations people (76%), while smaller proportions were Métis (19%) or Inuit (3%) or had multiple Indigenous identities (1%).
Indigenous youth overall slightly more likely than White youth to receive a guilty decision
According to the Adjusted Relative Rate Index (see Note to readers), which accounts for crime severity, Indigenous youth accused were overall slightly more likely (+6%) than their White counterparts to receive a guilty decision (including guilty pleas) in court from 2016/2017 to 2022/2023.
First Nations (+5%) and Métis (+10%) youth were somewhat more likely to receive a guilty decision than White youth. In contrast, Inuit youth (-10%) were less likely to receive a guilty decision than their White counterparts.
Indigenous youth overall more likely to have their case stayed than their White counterparts
Stays of proceedings—when the Crown or judge temporarily or permanently stops the prosecution against an accused person—were more likely (+18%) among Indigenous youth than White youth during the period from 2016/2017 to 2022/2023. This disparity was highest for First Nations youth (+22% compared with White youth), whereas it was relatively smaller for Métis (+7%) and Inuit (+6%) youth.
Conversely, Indigenous youth were overall less likely (-16%) to have their case result in a withdrawal, dismissal or discharge than White youth. This remained true for First Nations (-18%) and Métis (-12%) youth specifically, whereas Inuit youth were more likely (+15%) to have their case result in a withdrawal, dismissal or discharge than White youth.
Following a guilty decision, Indigenous youth much more likely than White youth to receive a custody sentence
After controlling for crime severity, Indigenous youth found guilty of an offence were much more likely (+101%) than their White counterparts to receive a sentence of custody (including supervision) during the period from 2016/2017 to 2022/2023.
Among those who received a guilty decision, Indigenous youth were less likely (-10%) than White youth to receive probation.
In contrast, Indigenous youth were more likely than White youth to receive sentences of fines or community service (+15%) or a sentence introduced under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (+26%), such as deferred custody and supervision or intensive support and supervision.
Note to readers
The Integrated Criminal Court Survey (ICCS) collects statistical information on adult criminal and youth court cases involving Criminal Code and other federal statute offences in Canada. The data in this article are from the youth court portion of the survey and reflect individuals who were aged 12 to 17 at the time of the offence. ICCS data are reported by fiscal year (April 1 to March 31). Cases are counted in the fiscal year in which they are completed. Data for Quebec were not available for 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.
Indigenous youth accused are individuals with a completed case in youth court from 2016/2017 to 2022/2023 who were identified as Indigenous (First Nations people, Métis or Inuit) on the Indigenous group question in either the 2016 or the 2021 Census of Population. A person may be included in more than one of the three groups. White youth accused are those with a completed case in youth court during the same period who were identified as White (and no other population group) on the population group question in either the 2016 or the 2021 Census of Population.
In this article, the unit of analysis is an accused person. An accused person can be involved in multiple cases during the reference period (2016/2017 to 2022/2023) but they are counted only once per year. If an accused person was involved in multiple court cases in a given year, one case was randomly selected to represent the accused for that year.
A case is defined as one or more charges against an accused person that were processed by the courts at the same time and received a final decision. A case that has more than one charge is represented by the charge with the most serious offence. It is possible to receive more than one sentence type in relation to a guilty charge in a case. Only the most serious sentence in the case is represented.
The Adjusted Relative Rate Index (ARRI) measures the likelihood of a selected group (Indigenous youth accused) encountering an outcome (e.g., guilty decision) relative to a reference group (White youth accused) encountering the same outcome. The ARRI accounts for the severity of the most serious offence in the case, ensuring that any observed differences in outcomes are not attributable to differences in crime severity between the two groups.
In this article, ARRI values are presented as positive and negative percentages. Positive percentages indicate that Indigenous youth accused are more likely to experience a given court outcome relative to White youth accused, while negative percentages indicate that they are less likely. For the purposes of analysis, differences of 4% or less are considered to reflect no disparity between groups. In other words, if differences fall between -4% and +4%, then Indigenous youth accused and White youth accused are considered equally likely to encounter the outcome in question.
Products
The article "Disparities in decision and sentencing outcomes between Indigenous accused and White accused in youth courts in Canada, 2016/2017 to 2022/2023," is now available as part of the publication Juristat (85-002-X).
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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