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Table 5
Characteristics of persons accused in police-reported online child sexual exploitation and abuse incidents, by type of offence and accused characteristics, Canada, 2014 to 2020

Table 5
Characteristics of persons accused in police-reported online child sexual exploitation and abuse incidents, by type of offence and accused characteristics, Canada, 2014 to 2020
Table summary
This table displays the results of Characteristics of persons accused in police-reported online child sexual exploitation and abuse incidents. The information is grouped by Accused characteristics (appearing as row headers), Online sexual offences against children, Online child pornography, Total online child sexual exploitation and abuse, Luring a child, Non-consensual distribution of intimate images, Invitation to sexual touching, Other sexual offences against children, Total online sexual offences against children, Child pornography—possessing or accessing, Child pornography—making or distributing and Total online child pornography, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Accused characteristics	Online sexual offences against children					Online child pornography			Total online child sexual exploitation and abuse^{Table 5 Note 5}
	Luring a child	Non-consensual distribution of intimate images^{Table 5 Note 1}	Invitation to sexual touching	Other sexual offences against children^{Table 5 Note 2}	Total online sexual offences against children^{Table 5 Note 3}	Child pornography—possessing or accessing^{Table 5 Note 4}	Child pornography—making or distributing^{Table 5 Note 4}	Total online child pornography^{Table 5 Note 4}
	percent
Women and girls accused	4	23	3	10	7	11	12	11	9
12 to 17 years	61	94	14	42	73	82	72	77	76
18 to 24 years	15	4	27	11	10	4	8	6	8
25 to 44 years	20	2	59	34	15	12	15	13	14
45 to 64 years	2	0	0	13	2	1	4	3	2
65 to 110 years	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Unknown	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	1
Median age^{Table 5 Note 6}	15	14	29	23	15	14	15	14	14
Men and boys accused	96	77	97	90	93	89	88	89	91
12 to 17 years	21	89	10	18	28	26	26	26	27
18 to 24 years	27	10	30	11	24	15	15	15	20
25 to 44 years	39	0	47	43	36	34	35	35	35
45 to 64 years	11	0	12	26	11	19	20	20	15
65 to 110 years	1	0	1	2	1	5	4	5	3
Unknown	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Median age^{Table 5 Note 6}	25	15	28	35	24	29	29	29	26
0 true zero or a value rounded to zero Note 1 Non-consensual distribution of intimate images became an offence in 2015 under the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 The category “other sexual offences against children” is a catch all category that encompasses all sexual violations against children (excluding child pornography) which were facilitated by or involved the use of technology. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Includes sexual violations against children and other sexual offences where a victim was identified as being a person younger than 18. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes offences under section 163.1 of the Criminal Code which makes it illegal to make, distribute, possess or access child pornography. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Defined as police-reported cybercrime incidents involving Criminal Code child-specific sexual offences, including child pornography, and other Criminal Code sexual offences where a victim was identified as being a person younger than 18. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Excludes accused persons whose age was unknown. Return to note 6 referrer Note: An incident is considered to be an online incident if it was flagged as a cybercrime. An incident is flagged as a cybercrime when the crime targets Information and Communication Technology (ICT), or when the crime used ICT to commit the offence. ICT includes, but is not limited to, the internet, computers, servers, digital technology, digital telecommunications devices, phones and networks. Crimes committed over text and through messages using social media platforms are also considered cybercrime activity. Calculations are based on accused persons identified in connection with an incident where an online child sexual exploitation and abuse offence was identified as the cyber violation. Children under 12 years of age cannot be prosecuted for criminal activities and, as such, are excluded. Also excludes accused persons where the gender was unknown. Given that small counts of accused persons identified as “gender diverse” may exist, the UCR data available to the public has been recoded to assign these counts to either “female” or “male” in order to ensure the protection of confidentiality and privacy. Accused persons identified as gender diverse have been assigned to either female or male based on the regional distribution of the accused person's gender. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. For the years 2014 and 2015, the municipal police services of Saint John, Québec and Calgary, and the Ontario Provincial Police were excluded. For the year 2016, the municipal police services of Saint John and Calgary, and the Ontario Provincial Police were excluded. For the year 2017, the municipal police service of Saint John and the Ontario Provincial Police were excluded. For the years 2018 to 2020, the municipal police service of Saint John was excluded. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Date modified:: 2022-05-12