US punitiveness ‘Canadian style’? Cultural values and Canadian punishment policy
| Author | Anthony N Doob,Cheryl Marie Webster |
| DOI | 10.1177/1462474515590893 |
| Date | 01 July 2015 |
| Published date | 01 July 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Punishment & Society
2015, Vol. 17(3) 299–321
!The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1462474515590893
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Article
US punitiveness
‘Canadian style’?
Cultural values
and Canadian
punishment policy
Cheryl Marie Webster
University of Ottawa, Canada
Anthony N Doob
University of Toronto, Canada
Abstract
From the mid-19th century until 2006, Canadian official policy statements (from both
Liberal and Conservative governments) made it clear that offending was seen as largely
socially determined and that it was the state’s responsibility to try to reintegrate those
who offend back into mainstream society. In this context, imprisonment was seen as a
necessary evil, to be avoided wherever possible. The era since 2006 looks considerably
more American than Canadian. The policy elite in Canada has taken the position that
those who commit offences are inherently ‘bad’ people and qualitatively different from
‘ordinary law abiding’ Canadians. Exclusionary responses are privileged as those who
commit offences are seen as having chosen to forfeit their rights of full citizenship.
Several broader (cultural and political) ramifications of this punitive shift in the norma-
tive orientation expressed by policy-makers in Canada are discussed.
Keywords
Canada, punishment, values
Imprisonment is expensive and it accomplishes very little, apart from separating
offenders from society for a period of time. (Policy paper issued jointly by the
Corresponding author:
Anthony Doob, University of Toronto, 14 Queen’s Park Crescent West, Toronto, ON Ontario, M5S3K9,
Canada.
Email: anthony.doob@utoronto.ca
Conservative Minister of Justice and Conservative Solicitor General of Canada, 6 July
1990)
Today ...the Government of Canada is investing in the expansion of federal
prisons ...to better provide for the protection, safety and security of Canadians.
(Press release, Conservative Minister of Public Safety, 29 November 2010)
Introduction
Compared to other English-speaking nations, Canada’s imprisonment rates are
anomalous (Doob and Webster, 2006; Meyer and O’Malley, 2005). Specifically,
Canada has had a relatively stable level of incarceration since the late 19th century
(Webster and Doob, 2012: 81). While there has clearly been some fluctuation, no
particular simple trend is discernible in Canadian overall imprisonment over this
entire period. In fact, reliable data available since 1950 demonstrate that the incar-
ceration rate has hovered around 100 (82–116) per 100,000 total residents for more
than half a century. This trend becomes even more impressive when examined
alongside Canada’s two closest comparators – England/Wales and the United
States – which witnessed dramatic increases in their levels of imprisonment over
the past several decades. Assuming that levels of incarceration are a reasonable –
albeit partial – measure of a nation’s degree of punitiveness (Webster and Doob,
2007), the relative stability of Canadian imprisonment rates suggests that it has
largely been able to resist the wider forces compelling other countries towards more
punitive responses to crime (Webster and Doob, 2007, 2012).
Within this context, the title of this article in which US-style punitiveness is
associated with the Canadian reality may seem contradictory. In fact, it reflects
growing concerns that the Canadian punishment landscape may be changing
(Webster and Doob, 2007, 2012). Particularly since 2006 when the Conservative
government took power, several policies and practices linked to increased puni-
tiveness elsewhere have appeared in Canada. Specifically, Canadians have recently
seen signs of the politicization of crime, the reduction in reliance on expert advice
as an informed and moderating voice and growing promotion of prison as an
effective solution to crime (Webster and Doob, 2012). Further, it has been noted
that the Conservative government has introduced unprecedentedly harsh criminal
justice legislation characterized by greater use of imprisonment, increased reduc-
tion in judicial discretion and a more punitive philosophy of corrections
(Healy, 2013).
It may be too early (in 2015) to draw a definitive answer surrounding the inter-
pretation and, by extension, the punitive impact of the multiple structural, admin-
istrative, legislative and political changes that Canada is currently undergoing.
As Tonry (2009) reminds us, harsher sanctions – even once legislated – are not
invariably enforced. Further, not all of the recent criminal justice legislation is
likely to increase incarceration, particularly those laws whose purpose is arguably
300 Punishment & Society 17(3)
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