Federal Offender Population, 2013: Warrant of Committal Admissions: Aboriginal Offenders

Figure 1: Warrant of Committal admissions to custody of Aboriginal offenders

Length of Sentence:

• The number of new Warrant of Committal admissions for Aboriginal offenders with shorter sentences of less than 3 years increased by 29% from 411 offenders in 2003/2004 to 529 offenders in 2012/2013. During this period, the relative proportion dropped slightly from 52% to 49%.
• The number of Aboriginal offenders admitted with sentences between 3 and 6 years increased by 53% from 269 to 411 offenders. At the same time, the proportion of Aboriginal offenders with sentences between 3 and 6 years increased from 34% to 38%.
• The proportion of Aboriginal offenders serving longer sentences has not changed noticeably over the years. During 2012/2013, 7% had sentences between 6 and 10 years. About 6% of offenders were admitted to serve sentences of 10 years or more as well as indeterminate sentences (including life).

 Major Offence Categories:

• The proportion of Aboriginal offenders admitted for a drug offence increased by 4 percentage points between 2003/2004 and 2012/2013 - from 10% of admissions (74 offenders) to 14% (151 offenders).
• At the same time, the proportion of new admissions for robbery dropped from 21% (162 offenders) to 16% (169 offenders).
• Aboriginal offender admissions for property offences (e.g., theft, fraud, break and enter) also dropped from 16% in 2003/2004 (125 offenders) to 12% in 2012/2013 (127 offenders).
• In 2012/2013, the proportion of offenders admitted with homicide-related offences increased by 1 percentage point (to 9%) while that of offenders admitted with sex offences (15%) decreased by 1 percentage point (to 15%).

 Custody Rating (Custody Rating Scale):

• Between 2003/2004 and 2012/2013 the proportions of Aboriginal offenders admitted with custody ratings of minimum (21%) and maximum (17%) security changed minimally. However, the proportion of Aboriginal offenders rated as medium security decreased by 5 percentage points from 67% to 62%.
• At the same time, the number of Aboriginal offenders rated as medium security increased from 534 to 673 offenders (an increase of 26%).
• There was a 52% increase in the number of Aboriginal offenders admitted between 2003/2004 and 2012/2013 who were rated as minimum security (from 145 to 221 offenders).
• The number of offenders rated as maximum security increased by 57% (from 117 to 184).

 Reintegration Potential:

• In 2012/2013, 9% of offenders admitted to custody were assessed as high reintegration potential. Forty-one percent were assessed as having medium reintegration potential. The remaining 50% were assessed as having low reintegration potential.

Age:

• During 2012/2013, just over 48% of Aboriginal offenders admitted to custody were less than 30 years of age. This represents a decrease of 4 percentage points since 2003/2004.
• The percentage of Aboriginal offenders who were aged 30 to 49 years (46%) and 50 years of age or over (6%) at the time of admission have not changed significantly over this timeframe. 

Criminal Associations (from DFIA-R):^{Footnote 2} 

• Between 2010/2011 and 2012/13, the percentage of admitted Aboriginal offenders who had mostly criminal friends remained stable at about 61%.
• The percentage of Aboriginal offenders admitted into custody with an existing gang affiliation decreased slightly from 23% to 19%.

 Dynamic Factors (Needs from DFIA-R):^{Footnote 2a} 

• During 2012/2013, 86% of Aboriginal offender admissions to custody were identified with a moderate or high need in the Personal/Emotional domain. Substance Abuse needs were identified 82% of the time. The Attitudes domain was identified in 76% of cases. Seventy-two percent of Aboriginal offender admissions had Employment needs. Next, 48% of offenders had Marital/Family issues and 36% had Community Functioning challenges. Analysis indicated that these percentages have not changed significantly between 2010/2011 and 2012/2013.

Prepared by the Research Branch
Data Source: Data derived from tables in the Offender Management System (OMS) and were extracted on August 23, 2013.