Crime and justice

Description:

This research paper examines factors associated with delinquent behaviour among a sample of 12- to 15-year-olds. It investigates whether sex differences exist when various factors associated with delinquency are considered, especially the youth's level of commitment to school and experience of victimization.

Description:

This research paper explores the effect of witnessing violence in the home on aggressive behaviour among children, controlling for other important influences such as parenting practices, community and social support available to the parent and child, child emotional problems, and other socio-demographic factors.

Description:

The Canada e-Book is an online version of the Canada Year Book with texts, tables, charts and audio clips that present the country's economic and social trends. The Canada e-Book illustrates Canada and Canadians under four broad headings: The Land, The People, The Economy, and The State. You will find a wealth of information on topics including the human imprint on the environment, population and demography, health, education, household and family life, labour force, arts and leisure, industries, finance, government and justice. All Canadians will enjoy this useful reference that helps explain the social, economic and cultural forces that shape our nation.

Description:

The 'conditional sentence' was enacted in September 1996 as a new sentencing option for adult offenders. Under this new sanction, an offender could be ordered a term of imprisonment of less than two years to be served within the community. During the 2001 to 2002 period, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics conducted a special study of conditional sentences in correctional services in order to examine the impact of this new sentence on the administration of sentencing in Canada and to explore its application through an examination of caseloads and case characteristics.

This report uses data from that special study, as well as the Adult Correctional Services survey, to profile conditional sentence caseloads and case characteristics (e.g., length of sentence, most serious offence, conditions ordered), and offender characteristics (e.g., age, sex, Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal), nationally, provincially and territorially for the period of 1997 to 2001. Data on conditional sentences are also compared with probation and custody trends in order to examine the impact of conditional sentencing on probation and incarceration. Additional information describing jurisdictional administrative policies and procedures governing conditional sentences is also provided. The correctional services data have been supplemented with court data on conditional sentences from three jurisdictions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Alberta.

Description:

This series of reports provides detailed statistics and analysis on a variety of topics and issues concerning Canada's justice system. The annual Juristat, "Adult Criminal Court Statistics, 2000/01, summarizes trends from provincial/territorial adult criminal courts across Canada, which provided data to the Adult Criminal Court Survey (ACCS) for the 2001/02 fiscal year. In this Juristat, information is presented on the characteristics of cases and accused persons, the number of appearances, conviction rates, sentencing trends and related issues. As well, statistics are presented for a five-year period (1997/98 through 2001/02).

Description:

This article examines violence committed against senior citizens, using self-reported data from the 1999 General Social Survey.

Description:

The policy and processes involving mentally disordered accused can be complex. Persons found unfit to stand trial, or not criminally responsible for their actions on account of a mental disorder, come into contact with both the health and justice systems. With the increasing availability over the past two to three decades of psychotropic medication for mentally disordered persons, the health system is now able to treat this group in a non-institutionalized setting. Similarly, dispositions made by the court, when the accused has been found either unfit to stand trial or else not criminally responsible for their actions, have shifted from indeterminate incarceration to minimal detention and community-based treatment. This document reviews the processes undertaken by persons identified as mentally disordered in court and identifies potential data-collection opportunities.

Description:

This edition of Juristat provides a profile of motor vehicle theft in Canada. It examines the international trends, methods and prevalence of organized crime in Canadian auto theft, as well as recent auto-theft prevention programs and strategies.

Description:

Cyber-crime is a global problem that in many instances transcends national borders. Historically, compiling meaningful statistics about this activity has been difficult because of the reluctance on the part of victims to report these offences to police. However, because of the financial losses sustained, an increasing number of these crimes are being reported to police. As a result, federal, provincial and territorial governments, as well as the police community, are interested in analyzing national trends on cyber-crime and their impact on Canadians.

In response to this need for information, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) conducted a Special Study to examine the issues and data sources related to cyber-crime and to investigate the feasibility of collecting quantitative data from police services in Canada. This report examines definitions of cyber-crime, current legislation in Canada and other countries, existing data sources, summarizes results from consultations with selected police forces, and presents options for collecting cyber-crime data from police agencies.

Description:

This issue of Juristat examines how much is being spent to operate the justice system in Canada. Trends in spending and personnel are discussed for policing, courts, legal aid, criminal prosecutions, and corrections. The report data come from several sources, including the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics' resource, Statistics Canada's Financial Management System, and expenditure and personnel surveys. The data cover the period up to 2000-2001.

Description: Annual admissions (number, percent) to residential facilities for victims of abuse, by resident type and area density, Canada, Province or territory, reference year.

Description: One day snapshot of residents (number, percent) in residential facilities for victims of abuse, by reason for seeking shelter, Canada, Province or territory, reference year.

Description: One day snapshot of women and accompanying children (number, percent) residing in residential facilities for victims of abuse compared with individuals living in Canada, by selected characteristics, Canada, Province or territory, reference year.

Description: One day snapshot of women and accompanying children (number, percent, rate per 100,000) residing in residential facilities for victims of abuse, by age group, Canada, region, reference year.

Description: One day snapshot of women (percent) residing in residential facilities for victims of abuse, by type of abuse experienced, Canada, Province or territory, reference year.

Description: One day snapshot of women (number, percent) residing in residential facilities for victims of abuse, by relationship of abuser to the adult female, Canada, Province or territory, reference year.

Description: Percent of residential facilities for victims of abuse offering selected services, Canada, region, reference year.

Description: Maintenance enforcement programs, by interjurisdictional support order status and enrolment events, Canada and selected provinces and territories, five years of data.

Description: Maintenance enforcement programs, by age of children, length of enrolment of case and number of children in cases, Canada and selected provinces and territories, five years of data.

Description: Maintenance enforcement programs, by activity status, type of payment, compliance with regular and total payment, arrears status at beginning of March of fiscal year and payment assignment status, Canada and selected provinces and territories, five years of data.

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:

This chapter examines homicide-suicide trends involving three populations; spouses, children and youth under the age of 18 and older adults (65 years of age and older). The following analysis use data from the Homicide Survey explores the Homicide narratives to add contextual information.

Description:

This chapter will focus on the physical and sexual assaults against children and youth (under the age of 18) that were reported to police services. In addition, other forms of child maltreatment and child abuse are presented including the extent to which children and youth witness violence in the home. System responses to the issue of child maltreatment and violence will be examined, using information from the Transition Home and Victim Services Surveys. As well, recent policy developments to address and improve the situation of family violence against children and youth in Canada will be highlighted.

Description:

Persons over the age of 65 represented 13% of the Canadian population compared to 11% in. It is projected that persons age 65 years and over will represent 15% of the population of Canada. Concern for the well-being of seniors is heightened by the fact that this segment of the population is growing faster than any other age cohort. There are numerous implications for Canadian society as a result of this growth including meeting the health needs of an aging population as well as ensuring that seniors are not victims of violent crime either from within or outside of the family.

Description:

This research paper provides an overview of patterns in crime data between 1962 and 2003, with a particular focus on the decline in recorded crime throughout the 1990s. This paper also explores the statistical relationship between selected crime patterns (homicide, robbery, break and enter and motor vehicle theft) and various macro-level demographic and economic changes. Analysis is based on police-reported crime data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Consumer Price Index, Labour Force Survey and institution data on the control and sale of alcoholic beverages in Canada.

In general, bivariate results indicate that throughout the 1990s the greatest gains in reducing crime rates were made in property crimes, especially among young offenders. Significant declines were also noted for robberies and homicides involving firearms as well as homicides overall.

Multivariate results indicate that, at the macro-level, different types of crime are influenced by different social and economic factors. Specifically, shifts in inflation were found to be associated with changes in the level of all financially motivated crimes examined (robbery, break and enter, motor vehicle theft). Shifts in the age composition of the population, on the other hand, were found to be correlated with shifts in rates of break and enter and were not statistically significant for the other types of crimes studied. Finally, shifts in alcohol consumption and unemployment rates were found to be correlated with shifts in homicide rates.

Description:

Trends in rates of death involving firearms are examined from 1979 to 2002. Rates of firearms-related suicide, homicide, and unintentional death are reported over time and by province. Recent rates of gun-related death in Canada's four largest cities -Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver and Calgary -are compared.

Description:

This series of reports provides detailed statistics and analysis on a variety of topics and issues concerning Canada's justice system. The annual Juristat, Youth Court Statistics, 2003-2004, summarizes trends from provincial/territorial youth courts across Canada, which provide data to the Youth Court Survey (YCS). In this Juristat, information is presented on the characteristics of cases and accused youth, conviction rates, sentencing and related issues. As well, statistics are presented for the thirteen year period from 1991-1992, the first year for which national data are available for the YCS, to the current year, 2003-2004.

Description:

This Juristat presents a profile of all shelters in Canada that provided residential services to abused women and their children in 2003-2004. Additionally, through the use of a snapshot day survey (April 14, 2004), selected characteristics of residents (i.e., reasons for coming to the shelter, age group, parenting responsibilities, relationship to abuser, involvement of the criminal justice system, etc.) are presented. Data for this Juristat come primarily from the Transition Home Survey (THS), a biennial census of all residential facilities for female victims of domestic violence conducted by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics as part of the federal government's Family Violence Initiative. Questionnaires are mailed to all shelters known to provide residential services to abused women in every province and territory. Information is collected on the characteristics of the facilities and the services provided during the previous 12 months (April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004). Cross-sectional comparisons and comparisons using time-series data from the THS Trend File are also included. The THS Trend File contains only those facilities that participated in the survey in each of the following years: 1997/98, 1999/00, 2001/02 and 2003/04.

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.