Structural Violence Perpetrated Against Indigenous Peoples in Canadian Criminal Courts: Meta- Analytic Evidence of Longstanding Sentencing Inequities

Abstract

Social justice entails opposing discrimination and working towards eliminating structuralviolence. The problem of overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples across Canada’s criminaljustice system, a site of structural violence, has persisted for decades. Most studies uncoveredthrough this review and meta-analysis indicated Indigenous disadvantage in criminal sentencing.Specifically, Indigenous peoples were at much greater risk of receiving punitive sentences thannon-Indigenous people. Additionally, the disparity was observed to be significantly greateramong women than men. This synthesis also elucidated the paucity of data and research relatedto Indigenous peoples’ involvement with the court system. Implications and future researchneeds are discussed.