Trends in offences against the administration of justice: highlights

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• In 2014, about one in ten Criminal Code offences reported by police was an offence against the administration of justice. In adult criminal courts, over one-third of all completed cases involved at least one administration of justice charge. Administration of justice offences include such Criminal Code violations as failure to comply with conditions, failure to comply with an order, failure to appear and breach of probation.
• The rate of police-reported incidents of offences against the administration of justice decreased by 7% between 2004 and 2014, much less than the 34% decline in the overall crime rate. Despite the decrease in the rate of administration of justice offences, there has been an increase in the proportion of them that result in a charge, especially for women (+21% since 2004).
• Despite the overall decline in police-reported incidents of administration of justice offences over the past decade, the most common police-reported administration of justice offence – failure to comply with conditions – increased in 2014. The proportion of completed adult criminal court cases that included administration of justice offences increased from 2005/2006 to 2013/2014.
• In 2013/2014, 39% of cases completed adult criminal courts included at least one offence against the administration of justice among the charges. Findings of guilt were more common in these cases than in cases that did not include administration of justice charges.