A preliminary legislative evaluation of the conditional sentence of imprisonment: The case of Ontario, 1996-1997.

Abstract

Bill C-41, the Sentencing Reform Act became law on September 3, 1996. The legislation represents the culmination of nearly two decades of sentencing reform efforts. The conditional sentence of imprisonment, one of the Bill's provisions, is the focus of this thesis. The conditional sentence represents Parliament's response to Canada's high incarceration rate. This research examined the application of conditional sentences across the province of Ontario during the first fifteen months of its implementation. The basis of this analysis of conditional sentences is a data set of 4,633 conditional sentence orders imposed between September 1996 and November 1997. The sentencing data are complemented by an analysis of the case law from four Appellate Courts. Finally, a number of interviews were conducted with judges and crown prosecutors from Ottawa and Toronto in order to elicit their perceptions about conditional sentences. The findings present a portrait of the early application of the sanction in Ontario. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)