Overrepresentation In Canada

Similar to the situation in the United States, Canada has increasingly had a mass incarceration and overrepresentation issue with primarily the minority groups. The “failure” of the Canadian criminal justice system toward the Aboriginal people are the most evident through the overrepresentation of Aboriginal individuals in provincial and federal prisons. In 2013-2014 Aboriginal adults accounted for one in four admissions to provincial/territorial prisons, while only representing 3% of the Canadian adult population. There are many theories as to why this evident overrepresentation exists. The main arguments are the culture clash, socio-economic status and the history of colonialism. The cultures of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians have
This theory grounds itself in the reality that if one wants to know what group in society is at the bottom, all one has to do is look at who is in prison. Inevitably, those at the lower end of the socio-economic scale find themselves in conflict with the law and in prison. Poverty is one of the best predictors of the chances of an individual coming into conflict with the law. Year after year, statistics confirm that Aboriginal people have lower life expectancies, lower levels of education, lower levels of income and higher incidences of poverty and disease. If an Aboriginal offender receives the same sentence as a non-Aboriginal offender, they are not likely to serve the same sentence. The Aboriginal offender is more likely to receive a higher classification level, serve more of his or her time in custody and more likely to have parole revoked. The criminal justice system is not a uniform or coherent whole across Canada and selective enforcement from police often occurs. Racial profiling or profiling based on one’s socio-economic status is a common practice undertaken by police officers in Canada. The systemic discrimination and racism in the criminal justice system is still very
The reality is consistently worsening throughout the years. One must first recognize the possible theories as to why this is happening in order to come up with solutions. Three major theories were identified as the culture clash, socio-economic status and colonialism. These explanations for overrepresentation also pose solutions and these must be followed in order to improve Canada’s current situation. In the context of a discussion of Aboriginal overrepresentation the court stated the case quite dramatically, “These findings cry out for recognition of the magnitude and gravity of the problem, and for responses to alleviate it. The figures are stark and reflect what may fairly be termed a crisis in the Canadian justice system.” The mass incarceration and overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the Canadian criminal justice system has been deemed as a crisis. The criminal law need not be changed, but rather simple mentalities and treatment changes within the criminal justice system need to