A monthly analysis of adult criminal court cases in Canada, 2008/2009 to 2018/2019

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Release date: March 16, 2021
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Infographic: A monthly analysis of adult criminal court cases in Canada, 2008/2009 to 2018/2019
Description: A monthly analysis of adult criminal court cases in Canada, 2008/2009 to 2018/2019

A monthly analysis of adult criminal court cases in Canada, 2008/2009 to 2018/2019


Average monthly caseload in adult criminal court, by month, Canada, 2008/2009 to 2018/2019
Table summary
This table displays the results of Average monthly caseload in adult criminal court. The information is grouped by Month (appearing as row headers), Percentage difference between the average monthly caseload and the yearly average and 11-year average monthly caseload (appearing as column headers).
Month Percentage difference between the average monthly caseload and the yearly average 11-year average monthly caseload
January 1.00 188,172
February -0.31 185,776
March -1.38 183,797
April -1.66 183,143
May -1.74 183,165
June -1.9 182,965
July -0.87 184,795
August 1.08 188,430
September 2.13 190,456
October 1.83 190,264
November 1.28 188,952
December 0.27 186,863

Seasonal impact on case initiation

There is little seasonal impact on most types of criminal court cases. However, seasonality does impact the initiation of cases involving disturbing the peace.

Cases involving disturbing the peace are more likely to be initiated in court in the summer months (July and August) than in the winter months (from December to March).

In a typical year…

September has the highest criminal court caseload,Note 1 averaging 190,456 cases over the reference period.

June has the lowest caseload, averaging 182,965 cases over the reference period.

Seasonal influence on court appearances

Compared with the yearly average, December (-8.3%) had the lowest number of court appearances per day.Note 2 This was followed by the summer months of June (-3.9%), August (-2.9%) and July (-2.5%).

In contrast, April (+4.2%) and September (+3.9%) saw the highest number of court appearances per day.


Average number of initiated and completed cases in adult criminal court, by month, Canada, 2008/2009 to 2018/2019
Table summary
This table displays the results of Average number of initiated and completed cases in adult criminal court. The information is grouped by Month (appearing as row headers), Initiated cases and Completed cases (appearing as column headers).
Month Initiated cases Completed cases
January 30,562 29,330
February 27,129 27,255
March 29,455 29,513
April 32,557 29,985
May 32,395 29,531
June 31,258 30,221
July 33,428 27,672
August 32,337 27,140
September 31,376 29,063
October 31,779 30,579
November 30,089 29,585
December 27,692 26,179

There are more case starts than case completions at certain times of the year. For example, in July, initiated cases were higher than the yearly average and case completions were lower.

Note: Canada excluding Quebec. Data for Quebec are not available in the Integrated Criminal Court Survey Workload Time Series (ICCS WTS) Database until the 2015/2016 reference period.

Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Integrated Criminal Court Survey Workload Time Series Database, 2018/2019.

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Copyright

Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2021

Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

Frequency: Occasional

Ottawa

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