Table 7
Charges processed in adult criminal and youth courts related to offences likely committed or facilitated online, by type of offence, and characteristics or outcomes, Canada, 2014/2015 to 2019/2020


Table 7
Charges processed in adult criminal and youth courts related to offences likely committed or facilitated online, by type of offence, and characteristics or outcomes, Canada, 2014/2015 to 2019/2020
Table summary
This table displays the results of Charges processed in adult criminal and youth courts related to offences likely committed or facilitated online. The information is grouped by Characteristics and outcomes (appearing as row headers), Luring a child , Agreement or arrangement—sexual offence against a child, Child pornography—possessing or accessing, Child pornography—making or distributing, Non-consensual distribution of intimate images and Total, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Characteristics and outcomes Luring a childTable 7 Note 1 Agreement or arrangement—sexual offence against a childTable 7 Note 1 Child pornography—possessing or accessingTable 7 Note 2 Child pornography—making or distributingTable 7 Note 2 Non-consensual distribution of intimate imagesTable 7 Note 3 Total
percent
Charges related to online child sexual offences
Youth court 20 1 29 37 14 100
Adult court 22 2 41 28 6 100
Charge-related decision—youth court
Guilty 56 45 44 39 47 45
Acquitted 2 0 1 1 2 1
Stayed, withdrawn, dismissed or discharged 38 53 51 55 49 50
OtherTable 7 Note 4 4 3 4 4 2 4
Charge-related decision—adult criminal court
Guilty 36 24 35 29 44 34
Acquitted 2 1 1 2 3 2
Stayed, withdrawn, dismissed or discharged 60 73 62 68 52 63
OtherTable 7 Note 4 3 1 1 1 1 1
Age group of adults found guilty of charges
18 to 24 years 35 21 29 22 49 30
25 to 34 years 38 21 35 31 45 35
35 to 44 years 38 32 36 28 40 34
45 to 54 years 32 10 37 32 34 34
55 years and older 28 33 42 29 36 36
Sex of persons found guilty of charges
Female 54 34 24 29 39 34
Male 37 25 36 31 45 36
Most serious sentence—youth courtTable 7 Note 5
Custody and supervision 6 0 2 6 2 4
Probation 64 77 61 67 55 61
Deferred custody and supervision 3 0 4 5 2 3
Community service 2 0 4 4 10 5
Other sentenceTable 7 Note 6 13 15 16 12 27 18
Not available (guilty but no sentencing detail) 11 8 13 7 4 9
Most serious sentence—adult criminal courtTable 7 Note 5
Custody 86 91 87 89 36 80
Probation 3 1 2 4 43 8
Conditional sentence 2 0 1 0 11 3
Other sentenceTable 7 Note 7 1 0 1 1 5 1
Not available (guilty but no sentencing detail) 8 8 9 6 4 8
0 true zero or a value rounded to zero
Note 1

An offence specific to child victims and defined in the Criminal Code by the use of telecommunications, and is therefore assumed to have occurred online.

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Note 2

An offence specific to child victims but not defined in the Criminal Code by the use of telecommunications, however, police data indicates are likely committed online.

Return to note 2 referrer

Note 3

Non-consensual distribution of intimate images became an offence in 2015 under the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act. This is an offence not specific to child victims only and is not defined in the Criminal Code by the use of telecommunication. However, police data indicates this offence most often involved youth, and a large proportion (39% of police-reported incidents between 2018 and 2020) are likely committed online.

Return to note 3 referrer

Note 4

Other decisions include final decisions of found not criminally responsible and waived out of province or territory. This category also includes any order where a guilty decision was not recorded, the court's acceptance of a special plea, cases which raise Charter arguments and cases where the accused was found unfit to stand trial.

Return to note 4 referrer

Note 5

Information based on cases where the most serious sentence was related to a guilty finding for a child sexual offence likely committed online.

Return to note 5 referrer

Note 6

Includes conditional sentence, intensive support and supervision, order to attend a non-residential program (attendance order), reprimand, and other sentencing decisions (including compensation, pay purchaser, compensation in kind, restitution, prohibition, seizure, forfeiture, conditional discharge, absolute discharge, essays, apologies and other counselling programs).

Return to note 6 referrer

Note 7

Includes fines and other sentencing decisions (including restitution, absolute and conditional discharge, suspended sentence, community service order and prohibition orders, among others).

Return to note 7 referrer

Note: This table presents data for offences relating to the online sexual victimization of children according to their Criminal Code definition, and offences involving other Criminal Code violations that have a higher likelihood of being committed or facilitated online, based on what is shown in police-reported data. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Integrated Criminal Court Survey.
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