Strange Bedfellows? Stability and Politicization in Canadian Sentencing

Canadian imprisonment rates have not changed appreciably in the past 75 years. Canada has generally left sentencing to judges rather than impose strict directives through legislation. Yet, this stability hides considerable variability in process and objectives across historical eras. Until the turn of the twenty-first century, sentencing reform in Canada was about “doing policy.” The primary objective was to make the criminal justice system more effective and fairer by resolving problems in ways that were consistent with guiding principles. More recent policy changes have been predominantly about “doing politics.” The Conservative Party promoted populist tough-on-crime legislation that appealed to its political base. Liberals sought to reaffirm core values rooted in the party’s agenda and ideology. Despite dramatic differences in legislation promoted by the two parties, the contrast of the past two decades with the previous historical era signals a significant change in Canada’s approach to sentencing.