Profile of Women Offenders in the Community

PROFILE OF WOMEN OFFENDERS IN THE COMMUNITY:
SEPTEMBER 1999

Age
Marital Status
Race
Serving a Sentence For
Length of Sentence
Previous Terms of Incarceration
Active Supervision in the Community
Highlights of the community population

Profile	# of Offenders September 1999	% of Offenders September 1999
Age
20-34	210	42.0%
35-45	161	32.1%
46-55	93	18.6%
56-65	26	5.2%
Over 65	11	2.1%
Total	501	100%
Marital Status
Single (includes separated, divorced, widowed, not stated)	342	68.3%
Common-law	98	19.6%
Married	61	12.1%
Total	501	100%
Race
Caucasian	293	58.5%
Aboriginal	61	12.1%
Black	75	15.0%
Asiatic	18	3.6%
Other	32	6.4%
Not stated	22	4.4%
Total	501	100%
Serving a Sentence For
First-degree murder	4	0.8%
Second-degree murder	54	10.8%
Schedule I offence	152	30.3%
Schedule II offence	215	42.9%
Non-Schedule offence	76	15.2%
Not stated	0	0%
Total	501	100%
Length of Sentence
Under 3 years	140	27.9%
3-6 years	186	37.1%
6-10 years	70	14.0%
10 years +	42	8.4%
Life/Indeterminate	63	12.6%
Total	501	100%
Previous Terms of Incarceration
No previous term of federal inc.	456	91.0%
One previous term of incarceration	36	7.2%
Two previous terms of incarceration	7	1.4%
Three previous terms of incarceration	2	0.4%
More than three previous terms	0	0
Total	501	100%
Active Supervision in the Community
Day Parole	94	18.7%
Full Parole	346	69.1%
Statutory Release	61	12.2%
Total	501	100%

 Highlights of the community population: 

• Over two thirds are single

• Less than one fifth fall into the younger age group (20-34)

• Just less than 60% of women offenders in the community are Caucasian while 12% are Aboriginal

• Women offenders who identify as Black represent 15% of this population

• Less than 12% committed murder (less than 1% committed first degree murder)

• There are more women offenders in the community who committed schedule 2 offences (42.9%) than Schedule 1 offences (30.3%)

• Just under two-thirds of this population is serving a sentence of less than 6 years, while 12.6% are serving a life sentence

• An overwhelming majority (91%) had never been previously incarcerated on a federal sentence

 

Incarcerated includes: federal offenders incarcerated in federal facilities, federal offenders incarcerated in provincial facilities and those on temporary absence.
There were 354 incarcerated women offenders the third week of September 1999