Sentencing Disparities? Assessing the Impact of Static and Dynamic Criminogenic Risk Factors

• In Event: International Research on Sentencing and Sentencing Disparities

Abstract

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) presents a central commitment to the reintegration and ‘rehabilitation’ of former prisoners’ during community re-entry. Although no crimes are ever identical, sentencing in Canada is rooted in the common law tradition (i.e., like cases are to be treated alike and different cases differently) and intended to be based on the principles of deterrence, incapacitation, and justice. Although it is expected that persons convicted of “similar” crimes, operationalized as crime of equal violence, type scope, should receive similar sentences, this may not always be the case. Thus, we analyzed the files of federal parolees that are clients of a Crossroads Day Reporting Centre to investigate the factors underlying sentencing disparities; specifically, how dynamic (e.g., employment experience) or static (e.g., criminal history) criminogenic risk factors influences sentencing. Through an assessment of the impact of static and dynamic criminogenic risk factors on sentencing disparities, always holding additional variables constant, we show if and which explicit factors shape sentencing outcomes in Canada. Professional and judicial discretion in sentencing and how sentencing impacts prisoners’ experiences when incarcerated frame the discussion.

Authors

• James Lant, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

• Rose Ricciardelli, Memorial University

• Kimberley Ann Clow, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

• Michael Adorjan, University of Calgary