Table 1
Attrition and retention rates of sexual assault incidents, between police charge and completed court case, by selected incident characteristics, Canada, 2009 to 2014

Table 1
Attrition and retention rates of sexual assault incidents, between police charge and completed court case, by selected incident characteristics, Canada, 2009 to 2014
Table summary
This table displays the results of Attrition and retention rates of sexual assault incidents. The information is grouped by Selected incident characteristics (appearing as row headers), Total, Incidents charged by police that went to court and Incidents charged by police that did not go to court, calculated using number, retention rate and attrition rate units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Selected incident characteristics Total Incidents charged by police that went to court Incidents charged by police that did not go to court
number number retention rateTable 1 Note 1 number attrition rateTable 1 Note 2
Total sexual assaults 40,490 19,806 49 20,684 51
Sexual assault level 1 39,145 19,040 49 20,105 51
Sexual assault level 2 951 549 58 402 42
Sexual assault level 3 394 217 55 177 45
Total physical assaults 452,745 341,101 75 111,644 25
Physical assault level 1 333,586 251,145 75 82,441 25
Physical assault level 2 108,929 82,817 76 26,112 24
Physical assault level 3 10,230 7,139 70 3,091 30
Incident characteristics
LocationTable 1 Note 3
Private property 28,567 13,075 46 15,492 54
Open area 4,759 2,846 60 1,913 40
Commercial area 2,810 1,685 60 1,125 40
School 1,087 609 56 478 44
Other 2,217 1,176 53 1,041 47
Unknown 1,050 415 40 635 60
Population density regionTable 1 Note 4
Census metropolitan area (CMA) 20,713 10,737 52 9,976 48
Outside of CMA 19,777 9,069 46 10,708 54
ProvinceTable 1 Note 5
Newfoundland and Labrador 713 395 55 318 45
Nova Scotia 1,242 650 52 592 48
New Brunswick 1,157 470 41 687 59
Ontario 18,090 9,048 50 9,042 50
Manitoba 3,257 1,528 47 1,729 53
Saskatchewan 2,536 1,355 53 1,181 47
Alberta 5,893 3,193 54 2,700 46
British Columbia 6,185 2,684 43 3,501 57
Yukon 198 132 67 66 33
Northwest Territories 524 188 36 336 64
Nunavut 695 163 23 532 77
Weapon presence during sexual assaultTable 1 Note 6
Weapon present 1,719 1,023 60 696 40
Only physical force 36,851 17,984 49 18,867 51
Unknown 1,920 799 42 1,121 58
Delay in reporting to policeTable 1 Note 7
Reported same day as incident occurred 22,399 11,892 53 10,507 47
Reported at least one day after 17,653 7,723 44 9,930 56
Reported more than week after 10,928 3,736 34 7,192 66
Reported more than one year after 4,476 862 19 3,614 81
Long-term incidentsTable 1 Note 8
Isolated incident 26,594 14,565 55 12,029 45
Occurred over a one week period or longer 10,702 3,420 32 7,282 68
Incomplete information on incident fileTable 1 Note 9
No unknowns 23,846 12,606 53 11,240 47
At least one unknown 12,939 5,494 42 7,445 58
Two or more unknowns 2,605 992 38 1,613 62
Accused characteristics
Accused sexTable 1 Note 10
Male accused 39,724 19,568 49 20,156 51
Female accused 603 238 39 365 61
Accused age groupsTable 1 Note 11
Youth (12 to 17 years of age) 5,152 2,627 51 2,525 49
Adults (18 and older) 35,320 17,175 49 18,145 51
18 to 24 7,486 3,805 51 3,681 49
25 to 34 9,117 4,535 50 4,582 50
35 to 44 8,208 3,877 47 4,331 53
45 to 54 5,951 2,872 48 3,079 52
55 to 89 4,558 2,086 46 2,472 54
Victim characteristicsTable 1 Note 12
Victim sexTable 1 Note 13
Male victim 3,362 1,368 41 1,994 59
Female victim 33,353 16,698 50 16,655 50
Victim age groupsTable 1 Note 14
Child (13 and younger) 8,642 3,416 40 5,226 60
Older than child (14 and older) 28,071 14,635 52 13,436 48
Youth (12 to 17) 12,016 5,357 45 6,659 55
Adult (18 and older) 19,278 10,616 55 8,662 45
18 to 24 7,588 4,117 54 3,471 46
25 to 34 5,600 3,102 55 2,498 45
35 to 44 3,419 1,896 55 1,523 45
45 to 54 1,863 1,036 56 827 44
55 to 89 808 465 58 343 42
Physical injury to victimTable 1 Note 15
Minor or major 9,719 5,071 52 4,648 48
No injury 23,272 11,419 49 11,853 51
Unknown 3,794 1,610 42 2,184 58
Victim and accused relationship characteristicsTable 1 Note 16
Relationship of victim to accusedTable 1 Note 17
Stranger 4,876 3,110 64 1,766 36
Known to victim 31,909 14,990 47 16,919 53
Intimate partner 7,030 3,889 55 3,141 45
Parent 2,815 924 33 1,891 67
Other family 5,688 2,144 38 3,544 62
Casual acquaintance 9,593 4,948 52 4,645 48
Group type (age-based)
Pedophile-perpetrated sexual assaultsTable 1 Note 18 6,493 2,396 37 4,097 63
Pedophile stranger 350 207 59 143 41
Pedophile known to victim 6,143 2,189 36 3,954 64
Pedophile parent 1,419 472 33 947 67
Pedophile other family 2,106 691 33 1,415 67
Pedophile casual acquaintance 1,243 531 43 712 57
Peer-perpetrated sexual assaultsTable 1 Note 19 11,576 6,300 54 5,276 46
Peer stranger 1,283 813 63 470 37
Peer known to victim 10,293 5,487 53 4,806 47
Peer intimate partner 4,106 2,320 57 1,786 43
Peer family 1,040 440 42 600 58
Peer casual acquaintance 3,362 1,850 55 1,512 45
Age gap between victim and accusedTable 1 Note 20
Accused older than victim 30,073 14,197 47 15,876 53
1 to 5 years apart 7,539 3,991 53 3,548 47
6 to 10 years apart 6,017 2,936 49 3,081 51
11 to 15 years apart 3,468 1,664 48 1,804 52
16 or more years apart 13,049 5,606 43 7,443 57
Same age 1,569 867 55 702 45
Accused younger than victim 5,056 2,983 59 2,073 41
1 to 5 years apart 2,719 1,551 57 1,168 43
6 to 10 years apart 980 562 57 418 43
11 to 15 years apart 550 335 61 215 39
16 or more years apart 807 535 66 272 34
Relationship by sex
Female victim, male accused 32,960 16,595 50 16,365 50
Male victim, male accused 3,076 1,260 41 1,816 59
Female victim, female accused 275 103 37 172 63
Male victim, female accused 259 108 42 151 58
Note 1

The retention (linkage) rate is a measure of incidents that remain in the criminal justice system, and represents the percentage of sexual assault incidents with a charge laid or charge recommended by police between 2009 and 2014 that linked to a court case completed in adult or youth court between 2009/2010 and 2014/2015.

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Note 2

The attrition rate is a measure of 'fall-out' of incidents from the criminal justice system and represents the percentage of sexual assault incidents with a charge laid or charge recommended by police between 2009 and 2014 that did not link to a court case completed in adult or youth court between 2009/2010 and 2014/2015. This is the inverse of the retention/linkage rate.

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Note 3

Locations of incidents include private property (home or house, dwelling unit or other private property structure); open areas (streets, roads or highways, parking lots, transit bus/bus shelters, subway/subway stations, other public transportation and connected facilities, and other open areas); commercial areas (commercial dwelling units such as motel or hotel rooms, bed and breakfast accommodations, or short term rental units), or other commercial or corporate places); schools (junior kindergarten through to high school or equivalent, universities or colleges, during unsupervised or unsupervised activity); other location types (non-commercial/corporate places, bars or restaurants, hospitals, correctional institutions, convenience stores, gas stations, religious institutions, banks or other financial institutions, construction sites, and homeless shelters/mission locations); or unknown location (the place where the incident occurred cannot be determined).

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Note 4

A census metropolitan area (CMA) consists of one or more neighbouring municipalities situated around a major urban core. A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000 of which 50,000 or more live in the urban core. To be included in the CMA, other adjacent municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the central urban area, as measured by commuting flows derived from census data. A CMA typically comprises more than one police service.

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Note 5

Due to varying provincial court practices, comparison of attrition outcomes by province is not advised and figures are provided for reference purposes only. There are many reasons why the retention or attrition rate will vary by province, including but not limited to: varying degrees of specificity of personal identifiers, varying court case processing times, and different diversion, alternative measures or case referral practices. For example, pre-charge screening, a process whereby the Crown determines whether a criminal charge is laid before proceeding to court, is practiced in New Brunswick and British Columbia, which may result in a greater attrition rate.

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Note 6

Represents the most serious weapon present during the commission of the sexual assault, which does not necessarily mean the weapon was used against the victim. Weapons include any object that could be used in causing or threatening death or injury to a person (e.g., firearm, knife, blunt instrument, etc.), excluding physical force or verbal or gestured threats of injury, which is captured under the 'only physical force' category. Unknown weapons signify incidents where a weapon was present during the sexual assault, however the type of weapon was unknown.

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Note 7

Represents the period of time between the date the sexual assault incident is known or believed to have occurred and the date it was reported to police. Excludes incidents where the incident date was erroneously reported as after the report date. Some categories overlap with others.

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Note 8

Represents the duration of the sexual assault incident as determined by the first incident date (earliest possible date on which the incident could have occurred) to the most recent incident date. Incidents with only one incident date (the most recent) or incidents beginning and ending on the same date are classified as single or isolated incidents, and incidents with a first incident date at least 8 days earlier than the most recent incident are classified as 'long-term' for having occurred over more than a one-week period. Incidents occurring over a period of 2 to 7 days are excluded from this table.

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Note 9

Incidents with incomplete or unknown elements includes having at least one of the following fields on the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey as reported by police as missing or unknown: time of incident, location of incident, presence of weapons, level of physical injury to the victim, or relationship between the victim and the accused. Note that relationship unknowns are based on the records that were imputed, that is, initially reported as unknown relationship type by police but was imputed during UCR processing using the nearest-neighbour approach in matching incidents based on a number of similarities on other variables. For the purposes of this portion of the analysis, the relationship imputation was undone and the initial unknown relationship incidents were kept as a measure of police investigation unknowns. The category 'at least one unknown' overlaps with 'two or more unknowns'.

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Note 10

Excludes incidents where the sex of the accused was unknown.

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Note 11

Represents the age of the accused at the time of the sexual assault incident. Excludes incidents where the accused was under 12 years of age, or where the accused was 90 years of age and older due to data quality concerns. Some age group categories overlap others.

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Note 12

Represents incidents with single victims (incidents where there was only one victim) in order to accurately count and present victim characteristics by attrition outcomes. Incidents without victim information (i.e., no victim identifier) were excluded.

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Note 13

Excludes incidents where the sex of the victim was unknown.

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Note 14

Represents the age of the victim at the time of the sexual assault incident. Excludes incidents where the victim was 90 years of age and older due to data quality concerns. Some age group categories overlap others.

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Note 15

Represents the level of physical injury suffered by the victim as a result of the sexual assault incident as reported by police. Injuries are defined on the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey as: 1) no injuries—no visible physical injury at the time of the incident though weapons or physical force were used; 2) minor physical injury—physical injury that required no professional medical treatment or only some first injury aid (e.g., band aid, ice, etc.); and 3) major physical injury—physical injury that is more than “trifling” or “transient” in nature and that injury required professional medical attention at the scene or transportation to a medical facility. Injury is reported as unknown when the extent of injuries to the victim could not be determined though weapons or physical force that were used against the victim.

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Note 16

Includes sexual assault incidents where a single accused matched to a single victim.

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Note 17

Represents selected relationship types between the victim and their assailant. Accused known to their victims include all relationship types other than stranger. Intimate partner includes boyfriend/girlfriend, ex-boyfriend girlfriend, spouse, ex-spouse, or another intimate relationship type. Parent includes natural father or mother of the victim, the legal guardian, or step-parent of the victim. Other family includes immediate family other than spouse (i.e., natural brother or sister of the victim or step/half/foster/adopted family brother or sister), extended family (all others related to the victim either by blood or by marriage, e.g., grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sister/brother-in-law, parents-in-law, etc.), and children that are step/half/foster/adopted and therefore assume the same relationships to the extended family as a 'natural offspring'. Casual acquaintance includes social relationships which is neither long-term nor close (includes known, by sight only, etc.). Other relationship types not presented in this table include accused in a position of authority over the victim, friends, business or criminal associates, neighbours, roommates, and reverse authority figures.

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Note 18

Pedophile-perpetrated sexual assaults include incidents where the accused may meet the age-based criteria for pedophilia. This requires that the accused was 16 years of age and older, their victim was 13 years of age and younger, and that there was an age difference of at least five years between them. This grouping does not represent an actual diagnosis of pedophilia by a medical professional, but rather an age-based grouping using accused and victim information, and the fact that the criminal offence was sexual in nature.

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Note 19

Peer-perpetrated sexual assaults include incidents where the victim and the accused were within 5 years of each other's age, and the accused did not qualify as meeting the criteria for a pedophile. For sexual assaults perpetrated by a family member within the same peer age group as the victim, relationships identified as parent are excluded for data quality reasons.

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Note 20

The age gap between the victim and the accused is a measure of the difference in age between two the two parties in years, at the time of the sexual assault incident. Excludes incidents where the accused was under 12 years of age, or 90 years and older, and incidents where the victim was 90 years and older.

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Note: Data exclude incidents reported by police in Quebec and Prince Edward Island due to missing personal identifiers required to link to court data. Excludes police-reported incidents involving multiple accused due to analytical challenges introduced when associating accused characteristics to more than one person. Incidents considered in-scope for this study represented 80% of all sexual assaults and 76% of all physical assaults reported by police in Canada between 2009 and 2014. Record linkage is subject to false negative linkage issues where police-reported incidents may not have linked to court cases due to data quality issues in administrative data (e.g., incorrect birthdates or different personal identifiers for the same accused). Court data exclude cases that were completed in superior court in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan due to the unavailability of data. It is estimated that the addition of this data would increase the linkage rate slightly (at most 2%). The linkage rate is lowest for incidents reported by police in 2014 due to the short time period in which they were able to reach a final decision in court (by 2014/2015), though this bias appears to affect sexual and physical assaults equally. For these reasons, the retention/linkage rate may be an underestimation, and in turn, the attrition rate may be an overestimation. When base figures are low, corresponding percentages should be interpreted with caution.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey and Integrated Criminal Court Survey linked file.
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