Both Canada and the United States punish crime. However, once you look past the headlines, you might notice that they each do so in rather different ways, and a sentence that sounds similar on paper may work completely differently once someone enters the system.
It’s mostly because Canada relies on a national Criminal Code, while the U.S. gives states more power. The small wording choices in the law can have quite a big effect on what happens after conviction, even for the same crime.
Here are eleven ways that Canada and the United States punish crime differently. Which country do you think gets justice right?
The death penalty
Capital punishment disappeared from Canadian law decades ago, meaning that judges aren’t allowed to sentence anyone to death under the Criminal Code.
It’s a different story in the United States.
Federal law allows for capital punishment for certain crimes, and some states also maintain the death penalty under their own criminal systems. As such, execution is legally possible in 27 states in America, but completely banned across Canada.
Parole after a life sentence
What happens after being sentenced is quite different in each nation, too. A life sentence for first-degree murder in Canada includes becoming eligible for parole after 25 years. However, you’re not guaranteed to be released.
America changed the federal system towards parole in 1987 and officially ended traditional parole for those who committed a federal crime. Today, anyone sentenced serves a term based on statutory rules and supervised release. There’s no parole board that awards criminals early freedom.
Jail in the community vs home detention conditions
Sometimes, the Canadian justice system allows a person to serve a custodial sentence under strict community conditions. This is what’s known as a conditional sentence order. It legally counts as imprisonment, although it’s slightly different in America.
Home detention is usually linked to probation or supervised release in the United States. In other words, home detention in America is a kind of supervision that comes as a condition, whereas in Canada, it’s a form of actual punishment.
The two-year line that changes who holds you
Many people don’t realize that Canada actually splits a prisoner’s custody depending on the length of their sentence, with a sentence of two years or more meaning you go to a federal penitentiary. Anything shorter means that you’re in a provincial facility.
But there’s no such nationwide law in the United States because a person’s custody depends entirely on federal, or even state, jurisdiction instead.
Indigenous-specific sentencing instructions
The sentencing law in Canada tells judges that they need to think about the circumstances of Indigenous offenders when they’re choosing sanctions for them. It falls under section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code.
Federal sentencing laws in America do have some general factors that judges need to take into consideration. However, there are no such instructions regarding Indigenous communities, nor are there any recommendations for them to consider this group of people specifically.
Intermittent sentence as actual jail time
In some cases, Canadian judges allow prisoners to serve short jail terms in pieces, rather than all at once. These intermittent sentences only apply to terms that are 90 days or less. As such, prisoners may spend weekends in custody and have strict rules to follow between those dates.
The American federal courts do sometimes allow for intermittent confinement. However, the difference is that it usually works as a condition of supervision instead of being the actual jail sentence itself.
Mandatory weapons bans
It shouldn’t be a surprise that America is less strict on firearm regulations than Canada. Prohibited-person rules in the United States prevent certain criminals from owning a firearm, and these rules work quite differently from Canada’s Criminal Code Prohibition.
Certain Canadian convictions automatically come with an order banning criminals from owning a firearm, making the ban part of the punishment once the section applies. But such a ban isn’t a mandatory kind of punishment in America.
Life without parole
The federal courts in America can hand down life without parole to those convicted of a crime, and that means there’s no possibility of them being released through parole. Yet Canadian life sentences don’t work in the same way.
There is still a legal timeline for parole eligibility under the Canadian Criminal Code, even for the most serious of offences. There’s always a possibility for review under the law.
Federal good-conduct time credit rules
Federal inmates in America can earn statutory good-conduct time. Essentially, these credits shorten the amount of time that they have to stay in custody, as long as they meet Congress’s behaviour requirements.
But the Canadian system runs under statutory release rules. These fall under correctional legislation that follows legal release stages, rather than being a fixed credit formula that comes from sentencing statutes. Good behaviour doesn’t get you credits in Canada.
Civil commitment after a sentence
In the United States, courts are allowed to order continued confinement for anyone who has been declared sexually dangerous. This can happen even after the person has finished the prison term for the criminal conviction.
There’s no similar system in Canada. As such, once a criminal finishes their sentence, they’re no longer allowed to be held any longer than their sentence under the same kind of court process.
Length of probation
The Canadian Criminal Code dictates that all probation orders in the country stop after a maximum of three years. But in America, federal statutes allow for probation terms to be as long as five years for quite a few offences.
Such a long supervision window is actually part of the punishment that the court imposes on criminals, and it can also include more detailed conditions that go beyond Canadian probation laws. It’s a rather different system.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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