Table 9
Guilty cases by mean and median length of prison sentence, ten provinces and territories, 2002/2003 to 2006/2007

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Offence category	2002/2003		2003/2004		2004/2005		2005/2006		2006/2007
	Mean	Median	Mean	Median	Mean	Median	Mean	Median	Mean	Median
	days
Total offences	124	30	123	30	128	30	124	30	124	30
*Criminal Code* total	120	30	118	30	122	30	117	30	117	30
Crimes against the person	254	60	261	60	266	70	252	60	253	70
Homicide	4,316	2,555	3,732	2,190	3,462	2,555	3,266	2,190	2,501	1,825
Attempted murder	1,218	875	1,561	1,320	1,975	1,460	1,687	1,328	2,263	1,877
Robbery	644	450	676	510	690	540	686	540	682	540
Sexual assault	504	360	490	360	467	300	502	360	472	360
Other sexual offences	468	360	528	365	482	360	455	360	526	360
Major assault	144	60	152	60	162	60	165	60	172	80
Common assault	49	30	43	30	49	30	48	30	53	30
Uttering threats	68	30	65	30	67	30	67	30	66	30
Criminal harassment	73	30	103	45	78	45	87	55	82	60
Other crimes against the person	432	180	437	180	459	270	415	240	397	180
Crimes against property	116	45	113	43	117	45	112	43	112	42
Theft	61	30	55	30	59	30	56	30	56	30
Break and enter	251	150	259	150	263	180	258	180	257	160
Fraud	106	45	101	40	114	60	108	45	112	46
Mischief	47	27	39	15	48	30	48	25	48	22
Possess stolen property	79	45	78	45	80	45	80	45	92	60
Other property crimes	244	120	163	60	202	90	218	120	240	120
Administration of justice	26	14	25	12	26	14	26	14	26	14
Fail to appear	14	4	12	1	12	2	16	5	16	5
Breach of probation	30	15	29	15	30	15	29	15	29	15
Unlawfully at large	38	30	38	28	37	26	37	30	36	30
Fail to comply with order	16	7	16	5	16	5	18	5	19	7
Other administration of justice	73	30	67	30	71	30	71	30	68	30
Other Criminal Code	133	30	132	30	142	44	136	33	143	44
Weapons	120	60	128	49	127	60	131	60	150	60
Prostitution	40	7	115	4	82	7	34	5	62	5
Disturbing the peace	21	5	14	2	14	3	14	2	18	7
Residual Criminal Code	148	30	141	30	156	45	147	37	147	36
*Criminal Code* traffic	81	30	86	30	93	30	100	30	100	30
Impaired driving	72	30	71	30	77	30	83	30	78	30
Other Criminal Code traffic	91	45	102	45	109	45	117	60	122	50
Other federal statute total	178	60	173	60	196	90	191	90	195	90
Drug possession	21	7	21	7	19	6	22	7	19	7
Drug trafficking	220	90	219	90	251	90	247	90	280	120
Youth Criminal Justice Act/Young Offenders Act	17	10	15	7	15	7	22	10	15	7
Residual federal statutes	201	90	183	90	216	120	209	150	200	120
Note: Excludes cases where length of prison was not known, and cases where the length was specifi ed as indeterminant. Cases sentenced to life imprisonment were recoded to 9,125 days (25 years) for the calculation of sentence length means. Time in custody prior to sentencing is taken into consideration when imposing a sentence. The length of time in custody prior to sentencing and the extent to which it infl uences the sanction imposed are not available from the survey. In Quebec, most drug offences are recorded under residual federal statutes, resulting in an undercount of drug possession and drug traffi cking cases and an overcount of residual federal statute cases. This trend analysis table does not include data from Manitoba, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Coverage for Adult Criminal Court Survey data for fi ve year trend analysis (ten jurisdictions) is estimated at 90%. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Table 9Guilty cases by mean and median length of prison sentence, ten provinces and territories, 2002/2003 to 2006/2007

Archived Content

Table 9
Guilty cases by mean and median length of prison sentence, ten provinces and territories, 2002/2003 to 2006/2007