Crime and justice

Description:

This is the first quasi-national Canadian study of the criminal careers of a birth cohort. It uses linked data from the Youth Court Survey and Adult Criminal Court Survey to describe the court careers up to the 22nd birthday of Canadians born in 1979/80. The study includes six provinces - Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta - accounting for approximately 78% of the population of Canada.

Eighteen per 100 members of the cohort were referred to court for a criminal offence allegedly committed before their 22nd birthday. Thirteen were found guilty of at least one offence, and ten received a sentence which put them under the supervision of correctional or probation authorities. The peak age of referral to court is 18 years. On average, between the ages of 12 and 21 inclusive, alleged offenders were referred to court in connection with 3.1 criminal incidents' or 2.4, if administrative offences are excluded. Just over half of alleged offenders had only one incident in their court career. Seventeen percent of alleged offenders were classified as chronic offenders, who were responsible for 58% of all alleged criminal incidents.

Individuals whose contact with the court system begins later in adolescence tend to be involved in fewer criminal incidents. The lengths of court careers vary widely, but the mean and median lengths are 20 months and 13 months respectively. Age-specific annual rates of alleged offending are similar for accused males and females, and peak at 15 years of age. There is no particular tendency to escalation, de-escalation, or stability in the seriousness of repeated court referrals: all three patterns occur frequently. Thirty-seven percent of individuals with multiple court referrals have adolescent-limited careers (i.e. no incidents after the 18th birthday which resulted in court referral), 43% have adult-onset careers (no incidents before the 18th birthday), and 20% are persistent offenders (with incidents both as youths and as adults). The latter have many more criminal incidents in their careers and are much more likely than the others to have been referred to court for an offence against the person; however, the incidents in their careers are not more serious on average, and they are not more likely to have had an early onset of contact with the court system.

The file from which these results were derived could support much more detailed analyses of the topics which are touched on by this report, as well as other topics which have not been addressed, such as the timing of incidents during the career, the processing of cases through the courts, the sequence of case outcomes and sentences, and the interactions between sentencing and future offending, including the impact on careers of incapacitation. As additional years of court data become available, future research should follow court careers past the 22nd birthday. This will result in a more complete picture of the court careers of chronic, persistent offenders, as well as a more thorough investigation of the court careers of "adult-onset " offenders, who had no contact with the court system during adolescence.

Description:

Cycle 18 of the GSS is the fourth cycle (after cycles 3, 8 and 13) to collect information on the nature and extent of criminal victimization in Canada. Content from Cycle 13 on senior abuse and public perception of alternatives to imprisonment was not repeated. New topics of interest were added including stalking, use of restraining orders and social disorder. Other subjects common to all four cycles include perceptions of crime, police and courts; crime prevention precautions; 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:

In 2004, as part of its General Social Survey program, Statistics Canada conducted a survey on victimization and public perceptions of crime and the justice system. It was the fourth time that the General Social Survey (GSS) had examined victimization - previous surveys were conducted in 1999, 1993 and 1988.

For the 2004 survey, interviews were conducted by telephone with approximately 24,000 people, aged 15 and older, living in the 10 provinces. Respondents were asked about their experiences with criminal victimization. Those respondents who had been victims of a crime in the previous 12 months were asked for detailed information on each incident, including when and where it occurred; whether the incident was reported to the police; and how they were affected by the experience.

This Juristat explores the overall trends and regional variations of criminal victimization, as well as the individual risk factors associated with victimization. The impacts and consequences of being victimized are discussed, along with the informal and formal sources of support for victims.

Description:

Cycle 18 of the GSS is the fourth cycle (after cycles 3, 8 and 13) to collect information on the nature and extent of criminal victimization in Canada. Content from Cycle 13 on senior abuse and public perception of alternatives to imprisonment was not repeated. New topics of interest were added including stalking, use of restraining orders and social disorder. Other subjects common to all four cycles include perceptions of crime, police and courts; crime prevention precautions; 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 annual report is an examination of homicide in Canada. Detailed information is presented on the characteristics of homicide incidents (murder, manslaughter and infanticide), victims and accused within the context of both short and long-term trends. Geographical patterns of homicide are examined at the national and provincial/territorial levels, as well as for major metropolitan areas. Other key themes include international comparisons of homicide, gang-related homicides, firearm-related homicides, youth homicide and family (including spousal) homicides. The data are intended to respond to the needs of those who work in the criminal justice system as well as to inform researchers, policy analysts, academics, the media and the public on the nature and extent of homicide in Canada.

Description:

Provincial and territorial governments are responsible for the administration of community-based correctional services in Canada for adults and youth, which include, but are not limited to probation, conditional sentences, and temporary absence programs. Although the Criminal Code of Canada, the Young Offenders Act and the Youth Criminal Justice Act set out guidelines, jurisdictions are not obliged to follow them directly. Jurisdictions will differ, sometimes substantially, in their administration.

This publication provides a descriptive overview of sentences and the delivery of community correctional services across all jurisdictions in Canada for both adult and youth. In addition, this publication reports on community corrections data collected from the special study, as well as data from the Adult Correctional Services Survey, the Key Indicator Report, the Youth Custody and Community Services Survey, and the Alternative Measures Survey. It examines admissions and average counts of adults and youth who were under community supervision, showing trends as far back as 1993/94. Furthermore, data on offender characteristics, such as sex and Aboriginal status are also presented.

Description:

The annual report on crime statistics presents an analysis of the police-reported data in 2004. These data are presented within the context of both short and long term trends. Data are examined at the national, provincial and territorial levels, as well as for major metropolitan areas by type of crime. The report distinguishes between violent crime, property crime, other Criminal Code offences, impaired driving, drug offences and youth crime.

Description:

Recently, through the General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization, questions related to spousal violence against women and men were repeated. Results of this survey permit the analysis of how spousal violence has changed in nature and extent over the two cycles of the survey from and, for the first time, provide trends on male spousal violence. As will be highlighted in this chapter, the GSS illustrates that overall spousal violence rates have remained stable, but violence in previous relationships has decreased for both women and men and continues to be more common than in current relationships. In addition, the data continue to show that violence is more prevalent in common-law relationships than in marital unions, and although relatively equal proportions of women and men report some type of spousal violence, women continue to suffer more serious and repeated spousal violence than do men and incur more serious consequences as a result of this violence.

Description:

In the past decade, four large-scale victimization surveys have been conducted to obtain national population estimates of stalking. These surveys have been carried out in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada. For the first time in Statistics Canada measured stalking through the General Social Survey on Victimization (GSS). The present analysis details the prevalence of stalking in Canada, describing victim characteristics, victim'offender relationships, types of stalking experienced, violent stalking relationships, help-seeking behaviour of stalking victims, emotional consequences of stalking, reasons for reporting or not reporting the stalking to the police, types of charges laid against stalkers, and the use and breach of restraining orders.

Description:

Using data from the Homicide Survey, the following chapter examines the different circumstances and characteristics of family-related homicides in Canada which occurred. The analysis includes details about spousal homicides, child and youth homicides and family homicides of older persons (65+). This chapter will present data on the characteristics of the accused, the incident and the victim in these homicides.

Description: Legal aid service appeals by criminal and civil matters, five years of data.

Description: Incoming civil legal aid dossiers processed under the interprovincial reciprocity agreement, five years of data.

Description: Outgoing civil legal aid dossiers processed under the interprovincial reciprocity agreement, five years of data.

Description: Youth custody and community services, admissions to correctional services by most serious offence, five years of data.

Description: Proportion of the population who believe their local police are doing a good job or an average or poor job at enforcing the law, by sex, population aged 15 and over.

Description: Proportion of the population who believe their local police are doing a good job or an average or poor job at responding quickly to calls, by sex, population aged 15 and over.

Description: Proportion of the population who believe their local police are doing a good job or an average or poor job at being approachable and easy to talk to, by sex, population aged 15 and over.

Description: Proportion of the population who believe their local police are doing a good job or an average or poor job at supplying information to the public on ways to prevent crime, by sex, population aged 15 and over.

Description: Proportion of the population who believe their local police are doing a good job or an average or poor job at ensuring neighbourhood safety, by sex, population aged 15 and over.

Description: Proportion of the population who believe their local police are doing a good job or an average or poor job at treating people fairly, by sex, population aged 15 and over.

Description: This publication presents key highlights and results from the General Social Survey on the topics of caregiving and care receiving; social identity; giving, volunteering and participating; victimization; time use; and family.

Description: This Juristat article explores recent trends in police-reported sexual assault and other selected types of violent crime, following the implementation of changes to the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey in 2018. Analysis includes a focus on clearance status and victim, accused person and incident characteristics, comparing results from 2017 to the years that followed the changes.

Description: This publication provides in-depth analysis and detailed statistics on a variety of topics and issues related to justice and public safety. Topics include crime, victimization, homicide, civil, family and criminal courts, and correctional services. Issues related to community safety, and perceptions of safety are also covered. The publication is intended for those with an interest in Canada's justice and public safety systems as well as those who plan, establish, administer and evaluate programs and projects related to justice and public safety.

Description: This Juristat article uses data from the 2022/2023 Survey of Residential Facilities for Victims of Abuse (SRFVA) to present results on residential facilities in Canada that are primarily mandated to serve victims of abuse. Results presented in this article refer to two distinct time periods. The first focuses on a 12-month period within 2022/2023, and provides an overview of facility characteristics, touching on shelter admissions, availability of accommodations, and general services provided. The second focuses on information for a predetermined snapshot date of April 13, 2023, and presents a profile of residents using residential facilities on this date.

Description: Using police-reported data from the 2022 Homicide Survey, this infographic is a visual representation of some of these data. Findings include results based on Indigenous identity. Also included are findings related to the characteristics of victims as well as the prevalence of missing persons and spousal and intimate partner violence.

Description: Using data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey and the Integrated Criminal Courts Survey, this infographic is a visual representation of the prevalence of police-reported incidents of online child sexual exploitation in Canada between 2014 and 2022. Findings include the types of incidents reported to police, including both online sexual offences against children and child pornography offences, as well as characteristics of victims and accused persons.

Description: This infographic is a visual representation using some of the data from the 2023 Police Administration Survey. Findings reported on the infographic include results on key indicators such as police strength, number of police officers, number of calls for service and police personnel data.

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

Description: This Juristat article provides insight into the prevalence, characteristics and consequences of dating violence among teens aged 15 to 17 in Canada. Violence between dating partners can include criminal acts such as physical and sexual violence, as well as acts that may not reach the criminal threshold (e.g., emotional and psychological abuse) but which can nonetheless have negative consequences for victims. Teens’ attitudes towards violence and control in intimate relationships are also presented. Findings are based on self-reported data collected through the 2018 Survey of Safety in Public and Private Spaces and on police-reported data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Where possible, comparisons between genders, age groups and other populations of interest are presented.

Description: Using police-reported data from the 2022 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey, this infographic is a visual representation of some of these data. Findings include results at the national, provincial, and territorial levels. Also included are findings related to the type and motivation of hate crimes committed in Canada, as well as the most serious violations reported in each incident.

Description:

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which uses Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition. The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.

Description: The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which uses Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition.

The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.

Description:

The User Guide for the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) outlines uses for the index, as well as it provides a brief description of the methodology behind the development of the index. This User Guide also provides instructions on how to use the index, and lists considerations when using the CIMD data.

Description:

This objective of this report is to present the status of national data on Aboriginal people who come into contact with the criminal justice system as offenders and victims. The report examines the current and potential collection of an individual's Aboriginal identity through various justice-related surveys at Statistics Canada, the challenges within these surveys to collect these data and provides some insight into the quality of these data. The data and sources are examined within the context of information needs for the justice and social policy sectors, and in relation to the preferred method of measuring Aboriginal Identity at Statistics Canada. Data sources examined include the Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, the Homicide Survey, the Integrated Criminal Courts Survey, the Adult Corrections Survey, the Youth Custody and Community Services Survey, the Youth Alternative Measures Survey, the Transition Home Survey, the Victim Services Survey and the General Social Survey on Victimization. Finally, the report briefly describes efforts by other countries to improve justice-related information on their indigenous populations.

Description:

This report presents a description of the organization and operation of provincial and territorial maintenance enforcement programs. It describes the relevant provincial legislation, highlights latest developments, provides a general description of each program, describes how each manages cases, intake/withdrawal procedures, tracing, monitoring, payment processing and enforcement practices. As such, the reader will be able to identify the variations and similarities between the various programs. All of the maintenance enforcement programs rely upon several federal acts to collect, trace and enforce support payments. Therefore, a review of the relevant federal legislation is presented first, followed by a description of each provincial and territorial maintenance enforcement program.

Description:

This publication describes the structure and administration of provincial/territorial legal aid services in Canada. It also includes information on legislation, organization, coverage, eligibility, duty counsel and tariffs.

Description:

This publication includes a list of federal and provincial courts across the country. The purpose of this directory is to identify all courts (permanent and most frequently visited circuit points) in Canada by type, level, and location.

Description: The purpose of this survey is to collect education related financial data on all reform and correctional institutions in Canada. These data are used to supplement data collected from the Provincial Public Accounts on provincial expenditures on education.

Description: The purpose of the Police Administration Survey (PAS) is to collect statistics on public policing personnel and expenditures from municipal, provincial and federal police services in Canada. The information collected is used by federal and provincial policy makers, individual police services as well as officials responsible for police budgets. The data are also used by the media for the purpose of providing information to the general public.

Description: The Uniform Crime Reporting Survey was designed to measure the incidence of crime in Canadian society and its characteristics. The information is used by federal and provincial policy makers as well as public and private researchers.