Crime and justice

Description:

Homicide tends to receive more media attention and consequently closer public scrutiny than any other criminal act. The act itself, especially if cruel in nature or targeting defenceless members of society, promotes fear in the general public. Despite a growing concern among Canadians about threats of attack or violence, the homicide rate has gradually been declining since the mid 1970s.

Description:

This Juristat examines the extent to which weapons, such as guns, knives and blunt objects, are used in violent crimes. In order to understand the prevalence of violent crime in general, the first section provides a brief explanation of the trends over time in Canada, while the second section of this Juristat provides a snapshot of the use of weapons in violent crime in 1995. The final section more specifically examines the national trends in weapon use in the crimes of homicide and robbery since 1975, with a particular focus upon the use of firearms.

Description:

The purpose of this report is to reduce the level of confusion arising from the use of crime data originating from two very different sources (i.e., the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey - UCR and the General Social Survey - GSS) and to inform discussions about which is the better measure of crime. It explains why the findings based on these data sources diverge and summarizes the major differences between the two surveys.

Description:

This Juristat examines data from the Adult Corrections Survey (ACS) and provides readers with a comprehensive overview of the adult prison population, operating costs, charge and offence information, sentencing data, and community supervision services. The findings reported here are provided in greater detail in the annual report Adult Correctional Services in Canada, 1995-96(Catalogue 85-211-XPB).

Description:

This juristat answers questions about the relative cost of justice services within the context of total government spending, and examines changes in spending patterns over time. In addition, financial profiles are provided for six major justice services: policing, courts, adult corrections, youth corrections, legal aid, and prosecutions. Some of the initiatives underway to give taxpayers more efficient and effective services are also discussed.

Description:

This Juristat deals with prostitution-related crime in Canada, that is, communicating, procuring and bawdy-house offences (see Prostitution in the Criminal Code). Incidents reported during the 1977-1995 period are examined, with a focus on recent years. A wide variety of data and other information sources dealing with street prostitution have been consulted to provide a multi-faceted look at these activities.

Description:

The purpose of this document is to provide a picture of the most recent sentencing trends in Canadian adult provincial courts. Several issues can be explored using the aggregate statistics found in this data base. First, what percentage of all convictions result in a sentence of imprisonment? Many commissions of inquiry as well as the federal government have noted the need to develop more alternatives to imprisonment, in order to reduce Canada's reliance on incarceration as a sanction. Second, what kinds of sanctions are associated with various offences? Third, are sentences proportional in their severity to the seriousness of the crimes for which they are imposed? The principle of proportionality in the use of punishment lies at the heart of the sentencing system in Canada. The recently enacted sentencing reform Bill, declared that "A sentence must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender". Fourth, what kinds of offences attract non-custodial sanctions such as probation and fines?

Description:

The intent of this Juristat is to present police and court data on criminal harassment that are currently available from Statistics Canada's Revised Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey and Adult Criminal Court Survey (ACCS). As the legislation is relatively new, this report is a first attempt at producing a detailed analysis of criminal harassment data. The statistics in this report provide only a partial picture of criminal harassment in Canada and are not nationally representative. As such, the analysis will focus on the nature of incidents rather than the extent. Please refer to the Methodology section for more details on the data sources.

Description:

Police-reported violent crime in Canada increased steadily from the early 1970s through to the early 1990s. Homicides, in particular, tend to be widely covered in the media, especially those of a brutal nature or those targeting the more vulnerable members of society. The 1993 General Social Survey indicated a growing concern among Canadians about threats of attack or violence. Yet the homicide rate has gradually been declining since the mid 1970s.

Description:

In every province and territory, abused women and their children can find refuge in a variety of facilities that provide residential services. In 1994-95, transition homes and similar institutions recorded more than 85,000 admissions. Most of the women admitted were escaping physical abuse by a current or previous spouse or common-law partner.

Description: This table contains 75 series, with data for years 1998 - 2000 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and is no longer being released. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (15 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador; Prince Edward Island; Nova Scotia; ...); Requests for services (5 items: Total facilities; Total requests; Requests for services, housing; Requests for services, non-housing; ...).

Description:

Cycle 13 of the General Social Survey (GSS) is the third cycle (following cycles 3 and 8) that collected information in 1999 on the nature and extent of criminal victimisation in Canada. Focus content for cycle 13 addressed two areas of emerging interest: public perception toward alternatives to imprisonment; and spousal violence and senior abuse. Other subjects common to all three cycles include perceptions of crime, police and courts; crime prevention precautions; accident and crime screening sections; and accident and crime incident reports. The target population of the GSS is all individuals aged 15 and over living in a private household in one of the ten provinces.

Description:

This document brings together data from a number of Statistics Canada surveys and provides a visual perspective on the following subject areas: crime, police administration, adult and youth court activity, the correctional population, costs of the criminal justice system, violence against women, Canadians' experiences with crime, and their perceptions and fears of crime.

Description:

This section on crime and justice contains 328 series, arranged in four main sub-sections: crime and law enforcement, (series Z1-65); court proceedings, (series Z66-172); penal institutions, (series Z173-226); and juvenile delinquency, (series Z227-291). Population statistics are appended to facilitate use of the series, (series Z292-328). These series have been selected and arranged not only to provide usable quantitative information covering the field of criminal justice but also to indicate something of the historical development of justice statistics in Canada over the past century.

Description:

This report presents summary crime statistics as well as police personnel and expenditures for all municipal police departments in Canada. The report is organized by province and by city-size within province. Data include violent and property crime rates, clearance rates, population per officer and per capita costs.

Description:

This publication provides timely correctional population data for adults and young offenders. The data are reported by month, for each correctional jurisdiction (province/territory and federal) and by security status for adult offenders in custody. Summary data on supervised probationers are also included. The publication also provides young offender data by province/territory, by custody status, by month, as well as data on young offenders on supervised probation. The data presented in the report cover a five-year monthly time series. Data analysis, definitions, data quality measures and a glossary are also part of this publication. Statistics are derived from an ongoing data tables collection process conducted bi-annually since 1987.

Description:

Data from the 1993 Violence Against Women Survey on the incidence and nature of work-related sexual harassment.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This Juristat article expands on previous analysis of gender-related homicides in Canada by analyzing court case characteristics and outcomes of gender-related homicides of women and girls over a 13-year period (2009 to 2021). Using linked data from the Homicide Survey, the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, and the Integrated Criminal Courts Survey, it examines multiple stages of the court process (i.e., charge, conviction, sentencing) to determine if court outcomes of gender-related homicides differ from non-gender-related homicides of women and girls or those with a male victim. In addition, potentially near-lethal forms of gender-related violence, namely attempted murder and aggravated assaults, are explored to broaden the scope of the analysis.

Description: This Juristat article reviews court outcomes of cases linked to the homicides of First Nations, Métis and Inuit (Indigenous) women and girls. Using a linked data file containing records from the Homicide and Integrated Criminal Court Survey, the article examines how incidents of homicide move from the policing stage through to their final outcomes in criminal court. From solve rates, to the type of charge heard in court, to verdicts and length of sentence, the article examines cases where the victim was an Indigenous woman or girl in comparison to non-Indigenous victims. Characteristics of homicide victims and accused are also presented.

Description: Cybervictimization has emerged as a potentially serious form of victimization and has been associated with negative mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and suicidality. However, very little research has examined the prevalence and correlates of cybervictimization among diverse subpopulations of youth. Using data from the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth, this study describes the proportion of Canadian adolescents who have experienced cybervictimization and how this proportion may differ among subpopulations of Canadian adolescents (based on gender identity, ethnicity, and sexual orientation). This study also examines how these sociodemographic predictors are associated with the experience of cybervictimization and associations between cybervictimization and adolescent mental health and whether these associations differ among subpopulations.

Description: This Juristat article examines experiences of discrimination in daily life among the Chinese population in Canada. In addition, perceptions of and experiences with the police and the justice system, and the types of serious legal problems that Chinese people experience, are also discussed.

Description: Key statistics about crime in Canada are presented in this infographic. Findings on changes to the Crime Severity Index (CSI) at the national and provincial, territorial levels are presented. Also included are the categories of crime which were reported in 2022.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This article presents the main findings on Canadians’ experiences with fraud, including both frauds that were reported to police and those that were not. Specifically, the article looks at the extent of fraud in Canada as well as in the provinces and the territories, financial and time losses experienced by victims, reporting of incidents to police and other authorities, sociodemographic characteristics of those victims of fraud and those reporting fraud, as well as Canadians’ perceptions of fraud and measures taken to prevent it.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Using data from the 2021 Canadian Legal Problems Survey (CLPS), this article examines the types of serious problems experienced by off-reserve First Nations, Métis and Inuit adults (aged 18 years and older) in the provinces. In addition, various socio-demographic characteristics and their association with the experience of one or more serious problems are examined using bivariate and multivariate analyses.

Description: The primary objective of this survey is to better understand how Canadian students perceive their personal safety in the school-related environment, as well as their experiences of victimization in this setting. The information will be used by governments to develop and implement programs and policies to help Canadian postsecondary students.

Description: The purpose of the Survey on Sexual Misconduct at Work (SSMW) is to obtain an accurate picture of the nature, extent, and impact of: inappropriate sexual behaviours; discriminatory behaviours based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity; and sexual victimization within Canadian work-related settings.

Description: The purpose of the Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian Victim Services survey is to collect information on the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on the operations of Canadian victim service programs, including factors that have affected their ability to provide services and how they have adapted their operations to continue to serve victims.

Description: The purpose of the Canadian Legal Problems Survey (CLPS) is to identify the kinds of serious problems people face, how they attempt to resolve them, and how these experiences may impact their lives. The information collected will be used to better understand the various methods people use to resolve problems - not just formal systems such as courts and tribunals, but also informal channels such as self-help strategies.

Description: Data from the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada will be used to create an indicator for the Gender Results Framework. The purpose is to present the gender distribution of federally appointed judges in federal, provincial and territorial courts.

Description: This is non-Statistics Canada information.