Preventive Detention in Canada

Abstract

The current investigation traces the development of special legislation for sexual offenders. Unlike many American jurisdictions, Canada continues to use preventive detention as a means of control for both physically and sexually violent offenders. Survey data on all 97 persons held as dangerous sexual offenders in Canada were used to evaluate complaints found in the literature. Charges of inconsistent application were substantiated in that regional and socioeconomic disparity was revealed. The disproportionate use of DSO designations for child molesters was also noted. Complaints of poor reliability were supported, both in terms of sexual assessment results and clinical opinions about the status of individual DSOs. Findings pertaining to the difficulty of predicting future behavior were mixed. Predictive instruments suggested that DSOs were low-risk offenders compared to the general inmate population. However, those who were incarcerated at the time of the study were uniformly high-risk DSOs. Moreover, a simple retrospective psychometric clinical prediction strategy was reasonably accurate (77%) in predicting postrelease recidivism. Objections to the lack of treatment in prison and the community were partially supported. Preventive detention is also discussed in its sociopolitical context.