Punitive Trends and Stable Imprisonment Rates in Canada

The stability of Canada’s level of imprisonment from 1960 to 2005 contrasts with the increased incarceration rates experienced by Canada’s most obvious comparators—the United States and England and Wales. Canada is not immune to pressure for harsher practices and policies, but at least until the end of 2005 it countered or balanced these trends with other moderating forces. Canadians have largely minimized the impact of risk factors at the root of higher imprisonment levels elsewhere. Certain protective factors have limited the extent to which Canada has adopted the same punitive policies documented in the United States and England and Wales. Several potentially ominous signs on the Canadian horizon, however, could erode the balanced approach that has characterized Canada’s response to wider punitive trends over the past forty‐five years.