The Daily. Thursday, December 6, 2001

Sentencing in adult criminal courts

Adult criminal courts in nine jurisdictions heard a total of 378,600 cases in the fiscal year 1999/2000. About 61% of those, or 228,200 cases, resulted in a conviction, according to a new Juristat from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

About 7 of every 10 cases involved a conviction for a single offence; the remainder involved multiple convictions.

Judges imposed prison sentences in 27% of single-conviction cases, with an average length of 94 days. In the case of multiple-conviction cases, they ordered a prison sentence in 53% of cases. For multiple-conviction cases, the average length of sentence was 175 days, nearly twice as long as that for single-conviction cases.

Judges imposed a term of probation in 40% of single-conviction cases, with an average length of 434 days-more than a year. A term of probation was ordered in 49% of multiple-conviction cases, and the average length was considerably longer-556 days.

A fine was the most frequently imposed sanction, occurring in 45% of all single-conviction cases. The average fine was about $600. A fine was imposed less often for multiple-conviction cases.

The number and nature of convictions in a case both influence the type of sentence imposed. However, this analysis focusses on cases with a single conviction, because only in single-conviction cases can the sentence be directly related to the specific offence.

Males comprised the vast majority (84%) of offenders convicted of a single offence in adult criminal courts; 13% were females. Less than 1% of cases involved companies, and the remainder, about 3%, were single-conviction cases for which the sex of the accused was not known.

In 1999/2000, 29% of single-conviction cases involving males resulted in incarceration, compared with 19% of cases involving females.

This Juristat also compares the sentencing of adults and youths for the most commonly occurring offences. In 1999/2000, adults were more likely than young offenders to receive a term of custody for some of the most frequently occurring offences, but were often sentenced to shorter custody terms.

For convicted single-charge cases of common assault, where the sentencing rates were nearly identical, 57% of youths received a custody term of greater than one month, while only 41% of adults received this longer custody sentence. Similarly, in single-charge cases of property damage and mischief, 55% of youth offenders received a custody sentence of greater than one month, compared with 30% of adults.

Note: Adult criminal court statistics for 1999/2000 were originally released in The Daily on May 16. This Juristat presents a more detailed analysis.

Juristat: Sentencing in adult criminal courts, 1999/00, Vol. 21, no. 10, (85-002-XIE, $8/$70; 85-002-XPE, $10/$93) is now available.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact the Client Services Unit (1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.