Indigenous Offenders Affiliated with Security Threat Groups (STGs)

What we did

STG affiliated Indigenous federal offenders based on year-end snapshots from FY2013 to 2014 to FY2018 to 2019 from the Offender Management System (OMS) were included. For details on the methodologies refer to the specific publications identified in the appropriate footnotes.

What we found

Prevalence: Indigenous offenders are prevalent among STG affiliated offenders, particularly among the in-custody population. As of May 2020, 22% of Indigenous men and 13% of Indigenous women in-custody were STG affiliated.^{Footnote 4}

Trajectories: Social networks, marginalization factors, and experience with childhood adversity have been recognized as trajectories to STG affiliation.^{Footnote 5}  All STG affiliated Indigenous women offenders had at least one of these factors; 74% had experience with all three trajectory types,^{Footnote 6}  with a history of substance misuse (92%), homelessness (91%), history of abuse (81%), family fragmentation (68%), and STG affiliated friend networks (59%) being the most common.^{Footnote 7}  Although the information was not as uniformly recorded for men,^{Footnote 8}  over half of STG affiliated Indigenous men had experienced all of these trajectories,^{Footnote 9}  with unemployment (90%), history of substance misuse (80%), family fragmentation (63%), STG affiliated friend networks (57%), and history of abuse (55%) being most prominent.

Involvement Status: Active engagement in a STG versus those who were inactive was examined.^{Footnote 10} ,^{Footnote 11}  Half (49%) of STG affiliated Indigenous men in-custody were active compared to 44% in the community. Similar to the broader study, those inactive were higher risk/need, and were more likely to be serving sentences for violent offences;^{Footnote 11}  however, actively engaged STG affiliated Indigenous men offenders in custody were more likely to be maximum security. Institutional indicators and post-release outcomes were similar across involvement status. Among STG affiliated Indigenous women, 57% in-custody and 54% in the community were actively engaged. The results for Indigenous women were similar to the broader study in that actively engaged women were higher risk/need, more likely to have committed a violent offence, and more likely to have a suspension of release.^{Footnote 10}

STG subgroups: From this study,^{Footnote 3}  the majority (93%) of STG affiliated Indigenous women were affiliated with Indigenous or street gangs; less than half were identified as members in their STG. For Indigenous men, the majority (88%) were also affiliated with Indigenous or street gangs and three-quarters were members. Offenders in Indigenous and street gangs were more likely than other STG affiliated offenders to have guilty disciplinary charges, institutional incidents, and release suspensions.

What it means

Indigenous offenders were overrepresented in STGs. The various research studies indicate that Indigenous offenders have common factors related to STG affiliation and would likely benefit from addressing these issues in order to disengage from these groups. Future research could also explore the interplay between STG affiliation and Indigenous identity for these offenders.

For more information   

For questions and/or more information, please email the Research Branch. You can also visit the Research Publications section for a full list of reports and one-page summaries.

Prepared by: Shanna Farrell MacDonald, Sarah Cram, Angela Smeth, & Dena Derkzen