Roberts, Julian V.

The 6th edition Reader is a collection of primarily introductory level readings and aimed at any course with either a primary or secondary focus on the criminal justice system. In addition to exploring key and controversial topics, the text gives voice to participants from all aspects of the criminal justice system. These include readings from a judge, a defense attorney, a crown attorney, probation officer, police officer, as well as a life prisoner. It also offers essays on current issues in criminal justice and encourages students to debate and think critically about hot topics such as racial discrimination in the criminal court system or plea-bargaining. All returning chapters have been extensively revised and there are nine new readings, including a reading on Race, Ethnicity, and Criminal Justice Statistics by Alwasco-Owusu-Bempah and Paul Millar, and Indigenous Incarceration in Canada, by Andrew Reid and Julian V. Roberts. Additionally, there is a new foreword written by The Honorable Patrick Healy, from the Quebec Court of Appeal in Canada, to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Reader.

Sentencing in Canada is beset by many problems yet one weakness stands above the rest: the disproportionately high rates of Aboriginal incarceration. This article documents current and historical trends in levels of Aboriginal incarceration at the provincial/territorial and federal levels since 1978. We pay particular attention to the years following two important Supreme Court judgments (in 2001 and 2012) which directed courts to use custody with greater restraint when sentencing an Aboriginal offender. The primary data derive from the annual Adult Correctional Services (ACS) Survey conducted by Statistics Canada. In 2014, Aboriginal persons accounted for just over one quarter of all provincial and territorial admissions, significantly higher than the percentage recorded in 1978 (16%). In fact, over the last 20 years all jurisdictions save one have experienced an increase in the percentage of Aboriginal admissions to provincial correctional institutions. Despite judgments from the Supreme and provincial courts of appeal, and a number of other remedial interventions such as the creation of so-called ‘Gladue’ courts and an alternate form of custody served in the community, the problem of Aboriginal over-incarceration has worsened, not improved.