"Murder Rates in Canada

The removal of capital punishment from the Canadian Criminal Code in 1976 has not led to an increase in the murder rate in Canada. In fact, Statistics Canada reports that the murder rate has generally been declining since the mid-1970s. In 2009, the national murder rate in Canada was 1.81 homicides per 100,000 population, compared to the mid-1970s when it was around 3.0.

The total number of murders in Canada in 2009 was 610, one fewer than in 2008.

Murder rates in Canada are generally about a third of those in the United States.

Canadian Sentences for Murder

While proponents of the death penalty may cite capital punishment as a deterrent to murder, that has not been the case in Canada. Sentences currently in use in Canada for murder are:

First degree murder - life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years
Second-degree murder - life sentence with no possibility of parole for at least ten years
Manslaughter - life sentence with parole eligibility after seven years

from

http://canadaonline.about.com/od/crime/a/abolitioncappun.htm