A Profile of Black Individuals Serving Indeterminate Sentences in Canada

Black Canadians are overrepresented in the Canadian criminal justice system (Department of Justice, 2022). Prior research indicates that Black individuals in the federal correctional system have unique profile characteristics and outcomes; for example, relative to White men, Black men admitted to federal custody tend to be younger, have longer sentences, are more likely to have a Security Threat Group (STG) affiliation, and are more likely to be classified as maximum security (Smeth, Farrell MacDonald & Derkzen, 2024). The current analysis examines the specific characteristics of Black individuals serving an indeterminate sentence. This work is intended to inform organizational priorities surrounding Canada’s Black Justice Strategy and the Black Offender Strategy within the Correctional Service Canada (CSC)..

Publisher

Correctional Service of Canada

Resources

2

Updated

2026-06-02