Black people in criminal courts in Canada: An exploration using the relative rate index

The overrepresentation of Black people in the CJS is a complex issue, for which the causes are deeply rooted in Canada’s history of colonialism, slavery, segregation, and restrictive immigration practices. The impacts of this history are still very much present today, in the form of systemic racism, marginalisation and discrimination in various social spheres. There is a dearth of quantitative data disaggregated by race from criminal justice agencies. This presents a significant challenge to inform evidence-based policy decisions. This study intends to address some of these gaps by providing national statistics on Black people in criminal court for the first time. Specifically, this study provided an indication of whether the criminal court process itself contributes to the overrepresentation of Black people in the CJS. The RRI analysis also pinpointed key stages/decision points where Black and White accused experience different and disproportionate court outcomes. Finally, this study identified areas that warrant further exploration and data development with regards to Black people in criminal courts, and more broadly, the CJS.

Overall, the data show that Black people are overrepresented as accused in criminal court relative to their representation in the Canadian population. These findings are consistent with trends in correctional services.

Using the RRI method, the findings from this study suggest that Black accused are more likely to encounter a withdrawal, dismissal or discharge, less likely to encounter a stay of proceedings or to be found guilty, and equally likely to be acquitted^Footnote50 (except for Black men who were more likely to be acquitted). Among those who were found guilty, Black accused were more likely to receive probation or a custodial sentence, and less likely to receive a fine or a conditional sentence as their most serious sentence in the case. Finally, of the accused who received a custodial sentence, Black accused were overall more likely to receive a medium and long custodial term, and equally or less likely to receive a short custodial term. A visual representation of key findings is provided in Annex 3.

In sum, these findings suggest that Canadian criminal courts are contributing to different and disproportionate outcomes for Black people. Some of these different and disproportionate outcomes (e.g., being more likely to be sentenced to custody) can be described as contributing to the overrepresentation of Black people in the CJS by further entrenching them into the system.

This report provides an indication of where Black people are experiencing disproportionate outcomes at specific junctures of the criminal court process, but cannot alone explain why this may be occurring. Additional research is needed to better understand the reasons behind these differential outcomes. In addition, further analysis is required to better understand the representation of Black people at other key stages/decision points in the criminal court process. For example, bail appearances and decisions, preliminary inquiries and trials constitute key criminal court stages/decision points, but could not be examined in the current study due to the unavailability of data at the time of the study. In addition, the data on guilty findings in this study do not distinguish between guilty verdicts and guilty pleas. Further, the disaggregation of offence type in the current study was limited to two groups, namely violent and non-violent offences. Further analysis is required on specific types of offences, as the severity of an offence constitutes a key factor in judicial decision-making, particularly around the decision to remand the accused to custody and to select an appropriate sentence. Criminal history also constitutes another key factor in judicial decision-making, which could not be examined in the current study as this would require a different dataset than what was available at the time of this study. Lastly, future studies may help better understand the representation of Black people in the CJS by examining their involvement at the police stage and prior to their charge being processed by the courts.