Recontact with police among child and youth victims of violent crime, 2010 to 2024
Released: 2026-04-29
The majority of child and youth victims of police-reported violent crime had subsequent contact with police, either as a victim of violent crime or as a person accused of any type of crime, or both. Of the 59,636 child and youth victims of violent crime in 2010, nearly 6 in 10 (58%) had at least one subsequent contact with police by the end of 2024.
The Juristat article "Recontact with police among child and youth victims of violent crime, 2010 to 2024," released today, examines the subsequent police contact of a cohort of children and youth who were victims of a police-reported violent crime in 2010. The analysis focuses on the prevalence and nature of police recontact among the victims through to the end of 2024 and on the characteristics of the victim and the 2010 violent incident, which is considered the initial contact. Some members of the cohort, particularly older youth, may have been victims of a violent crime or accused of a crime prior to 2010.
Recontact as a victim and an accused person often overlap among victims
Among child and youth victims of violent crime in 2010, there was often an overlap observed in recontact as a victim and as an accused person. For example, 3 in 10 victims (30%) had subsequent contact with police as both a victim and an accused person, while smaller proportions had recontact as an accused person only (17%) or as a victim only (11%).
The prevalence and nature of recontact with police varied by the victim's age group at the time of the initial incident. Youth (aged 12 to 17 years) who were victims of a crime in 2010 most commonly (62%) had subsequent contact with police during the study period. Half (51%) of youth who were victims of a violent crime in 2010 were subsequently accused in at least one criminal incident by the end of 2024. More specifically, just over one-third (35%) of youth victims were subsequently accused of a violent criminal incident during this period, with an average of 3.8 such incidents per person.
The prevalence of recontact is influenced by the victim's age at the time of initial contact, and therefore, by the ages covered by the 14-year follow-up period. For example, people who were victims of violent crime as younger children (aged 0 to 5 years) in 2010 less commonly (31%) had subsequent contact during the follow-up period; of those who did, most had recontact as a victim. For youth, the follow-up period includes early adulthood, when rates of both victimization and offending may be higher, while for younger children, many of the years included in the study period fall well before these ages.
Boys more often have recontact as accused persons, and girls, more often as victims
Similar shares of boy (29%) and girl (31%) victims of violent crime in 2010 had subsequent contact with police as both a victim and an accused person during the follow-up period. However, there were notable differences between genders in recontact as an accused person only and as a victim only.
Recontact as an accused person only was more common among boy victims (22% compared with 10% of girls), while recontact as a victim only was more common among girl victims (15% compared with 8% of boys).
Recontact less common when the accused person in the initial incident is a stranger
The prevalence of recontact was lowest among child and youth victims when the accused person of the initial incident in 2010 was a stranger, regardless of victim age group. For example, 52% of youth who were initially victimized by a stranger had recontact with police, lower than when the accused was a family member (65%) or someone else known to the victim (65%).
Among youth who were victims of family violence, those who were initially victimized by a parent tended to be less likely to have recontact overall (62%) than those who were victimized by another immediate (68%) or extended (74%) family member.
Note to readers
This Juristat article uses data from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey, which measures criminal incidents that have been reported to federal, provincial and municipal police services in Canada. The present analysis focuses on a cohort of unique child and youth (aged 0 to 17 years) victims of violent crime in 2010, with this considered to be the initial contact with police.
One incident can involve multiple offences. To ensure comparability, counts presented in this article are based on the most serious offence in the incident as determined by a standard classification rule used by all police services.
The UCR Survey also collects information on the characteristics of the victim, accused person and incidents of police-reported crime. Using a linked file, the selected cohort of child and youth victims is followed from the date of initial victimization in 2010 through to the end of 2024. This article examines the prevalence and nature of recontact with police—as victims of violent crime; persons accused of violent, property or other Criminal Code (excluding traffic) offences; or both—for the study period.
For the purposes of this analysis, the initial contact refers to the first incident reported to police in 2010. Some members of the cohort may have been accused of a crime prior to the first time they were a victim. Some members of the cohort may also have been victims of a violent crime prior to 2010; this would not be reflected in this analysis. Recontact or subsequent contact is any official contact with police following this initial incident, either as a victim of a violent crime or as a person accused of crime.
Victimization of young children is known to be largely underreported to police. In addition, offending behaviour before age 12 years, the age of criminal responsibility in Canada, may not be recorded by police. This may impact the prevalence of subsequent police contact as an accused person of police-reported crime, particularly for younger children included in the analysis, since much of the follow-up period includes years during which they could not be charged with a criminal offence.
Products
The article "Recontact with police among child and youth victims of violent crime, 2010 to 2024," is now available as part of the publication Juristat (85-002-X).
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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