Department of Justice Canada

What we found: Young people noted that the most important factors judges should consider in fair and equitable sentencing are personal circumstances and history of the accused person, and the nature of the crime, including the context, severity and motive for the crime. Ultimately, young people...

Young people identified overrepresentation of the Indigenous population in Canada’s Criminal Justice System (CJS) as unfair, and largely a result of societal discrimination as well as systemic discrimination in the justice system. They also felt that it was symptomatic of the poverty and...

Reader's Note: This publication presents results of an online public opinion survey completed by a sample of Canadians who received an invitation through email, Facebook and Twitter (called "open link" sample; see method for more details). This survey mirrored a survey conducted with a...

The Criminal Code is a federal law that includes definitions of most of the criminal offences that the Parliament of Canada has enacted. It is often updated as society evolves and to improve the Canadian criminal process.

This study examines the way courts have applied hate as an aggravating factor at sentencing (subparagraph 718.2(a)(i) of the Criminal Code). The main purpose of this research was to identify the most common characteristics of offenders and victims of hate crimes, to identify the most frequent...

This fact sheet presents information on criminal court cases where the most serious offence in the case is a firearm-related offence subject to a mandatory minimum penalty (MMP). Data were obtained through a request to the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics (CCJCSS) and...