I'm going to speak from an empirical standpoint, because I have not studied this, and on behalf of the majority of lawyers who practise criminal law. Conditional sentencing has been used a lot in Quebec. As a practioner, it's my impression that the Quebec Court of Appeal has had a tendency to restrict its application, whereas the courts of appeal of other provinces have tended to extend it.
We have found that judges at times impose suspended sentences in cases where they felt that imprisonment would not promote rehabilitation as well as a different type of sentence.
Judges now impose conditional sentences automatically. So they now exercise greater supervision over individuals than before. A suspended sentence allows for three years of supervision; a conditional sentence, if a judge applies the full range of measures that go with it, allows for five years of supervision.
I have spoken about our experience from an empirical standpoint. At the Barreau, we are somewhat concerned, because we see no negative causal connection. It seems to us that the use of this provision has had positive effects.