Argument Page 1

Argument

There is evidence that the consistently high rates of incarceration amongst Indigenous people is proof of a large disparity between the indigenous and non-indigenous people of Canada. As shown in Figure 2, despite having a low population within Canada, Aboriginals have historically been over-represented within the justice system due to a series of harsh and unfair incarcerations. According to the Department of Justice, this same trend is seen amongst Aboriginal youths, although there is limited empirical evidence that documents the over-representation of indigenous youths (2004, p. 1). It is more likely that an aboriginal man would face jail time when committing a crime than a non-aboriginal man who committed the same offense. This trend is evident amongst all minorities within the Western World. “The Incarceration of Aboriginal Offenders: Trends from 1978 to 2001” by Julian Roberts and Ronald Melchers (2003) provides a clear picture of this disparity. In Canada, according to a 2001 census, Aboriginal people represented 3.3% of the general population yet constituted a much higher percentage of admissions into custody (2003, p. 212). The article makes it clear that the public is aware of this disparity but choose to listen and acknowledge misperceptions regarding the sentencing and correctional systems. 

When reading the article, the word “custody” was used many times, mostly in the context of Aboriginal custody within the correctional system. This prompted me to conduct a Voyant analysis to view how the word was used in the article and whether it could help answer this research question: “Has the number of aboriginal admissions declined at a faster rate than non-aboriginal admissions?” Upon conducting the analysis, I discovered a mention of the word “custody” which pointed to the fact that the rates of incarceration amongst aboriginal and non-aboriginal people decreased virtually equally in Saskatchewan in the 1990s. In Figure 3 below, it is made clear that the number of Aboriginals was strikingly lower in 2000-2001, but this was due in part to the existence of scrutiny towards the justice system (2003, p. 230). During that same period, the number of non-aboriginal admissions also decreased but to a far greater extent thus answering my research question and proving that aboriginal admissions have not decreased at a faster rate than non-aboriginal admissions. This further proves my claim that the high rates of incarceration amongst indigenous people is evidence of the disparity.