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FACTS & STATISTICS

Source: Juristat, Statistics Canada
Stats are all 2005/6, unless stated otherwise. Updated Aug 2008.


Previous Year's Facts and Stats

Facts and Stats from 2004/5
Facts and Stats from 2003/4
Facts and Stats from 2001/2

Incarceration rates

On any given day in Canada during 2005-2006...

Crime Rates

Deaths in the Criminal Justice System

Number of Prisons in Canada

The Costs of Incarceration

  • Custodial services (prisons) accounted for the largest proportion (71%) of the expenditures, followed by community supervision services (14%), headquarters and central services (14%), and National Parole Board and provincial parole boards (2%).
  • This figure does not include policing or court costs which bring the total expenditures up to more than $10 billion for the year.

Prisoners' Wages

Remand Rates (2004-5)

Includes persons awaiting trial, who have not been convicted of a crime.

Custody Rates (2004-5)

People who have been convicted of a crime and are serving time in custody (i.e. in a prison or jail).

Aboriginal Adults (2005-2006)

    (for all provinces, see page 22 of this StatsCan Report)

Aboriginal Women (2004-2005)

These high rates of imprisonment remain despite changes made by parliament to the sentencing provisions of the criminal code. These changes to the criminal code were designed to address the issue of overrepresentation of First Nations within the sentenced prison population. s.718.2(e) of the criminal code provides that "all available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders."

Aboriginal Youth (2005-2006)

Female Aboriginal Youth

Male Aboriginal Youth

Women (2005-6)

Youth (12-17 year of age)

  • In 2005/2006, the third year following the implementation of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), there were 3,724 youth admitted to sentenced custody, 14% fewer than the previous year and 18% fewer than in 2003/2004. Declines occurred in both secure and open custody admissions.

Prisoners' Age (2004-5)