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Study: Changing profile of adults in custody
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The number of adults admitted to provincial/territorial custody to await trial or sentencing continued to increase in 2006/2007, while the number admitted to sentenced custody continued to drop. In addition, females and Aboriginal people are accounting for a greater proportion of adults admitted to custody.
Admissions to remand custody to await trial or sentencing have generally been on an upward trend since the late 1990s, while admissions to provincial/territorial sentenced custody have generally been down since the mid-1990s.
In total, just over 251,500 adults were admitted to provincial or territorial jails in 2006/2007, a 1% increase over the previous year. This increase was due to a 3% rise in the number of adults held in remand, reaching more than 150,400 in 2006/2007.
In contrast, there were just over 84,450 admissions into provincial or territorial custody to serve a sentence, a 3% decline.
At the federal level, just over 8,600 adults were admitted to custody in 2006/2007, up 4% from the previous year. There has been an 18% increase in the number of adults admitted to federal custody between 1997/1998 and 2006/2007.
More women admitted to provincial/territorial custody
According to data from 10 jurisdictions, in 2006/2007, women accounted for 12% of adults admitted to remand, up from 10% in 2001/2002, the year when comparable data on gender are available from the majority of jurisdictions. The share of female adults admitted to provincial or territorial sentenced custody increased from 9% to 11% over the same period.
During the previous five years, the number of women admitted to remand grew at more than twice the rate of admissions to remand overall.
Over the same five year period, there was a 9% decrease in the total number of sentenced provincial/territorial admissions. In comparison, there was an 11% increase in the number of female admissions.
Changes in the number of females admitted to custody can have implications for corrections services as women tend to have different programming needs than the larger male population and need to be housed separately from males.
Aboriginal adults account for a larger share of provincial/territorial admissions
Data from nine jurisdictions show that Aboriginal adults made up a larger share of admissions to their provincial and territorial jails in 2006/2007, compared with five years earlier.
In 2006/2007, Aboriginal people comprised 18% of adults admitted to remand custody, compared with 15% in 2001/2002, the year when comparable data on Aboriginal identity are available from the majority of jurisdictions. Aboriginal offenders accounted for 20% of provincial or territorial sentenced custody admissions in 2006/2007 compared with 16% five years earlier.
Aboriginal offenders represented 18% of adults admitted to federal custody in 2001/2002 and 2006/2007.
Note to readersData on admissions to correctional services measure the number of adults entering a correctional program during the fiscal year. These data do not indicate the number of unique individuals using correctional services since the same person can be admitted more than once in a reference year. Not all provinces have reported complete data to the Adult Correctional Services Survey on an annual basis. Analysis from 2005/2006 to 2006/2007 excludes Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Comparisons between 1997/1998 and 2006/2007 also exclude Alberta and Manitoba. Comparisons with admissions of females in 2001/2002 exclude Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Nunavut. Comparisons with admissions of Aboriginals in 2001/2002 exclude Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Nunavut. Adults admitted to remand (i.e., custody while awaiting trial or sentencing) or to serve custodial sentences of less than two years are the responsibility of provincial/territorial corrections services. Adults admitted to custody to serve sentences of two years or longer are the responsibility of federal corrections. |
Research suggests that in addition to needing culturally-sensitive programming, Aboriginal offenders may have different needs with respect to rehabilitation, which can have implications for program requirements within correctional facilities.
According to the 2006 Census, about 4% of the Canadian population identified themselves as Aboriginal.
Available on CANSIM: tables 251-0001 to 251-0003 and 251-0007.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3306.
The Juristat article "The changing profile of adults in custody," Vol. 28, no. 10 (85-002-XWE, free) is now available. From the Publications module of our website, choose All subjects, then Crime and justice.
Data tables are also available. From the Summary tables module of our website, choose Subject, then Crime and justice.
For more information, or to enquire about concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Information and Client Services (toll-free 1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.
Table 1
Composition of admissions to the adult correctional population, 2005/2006 to 2006/2007
