Table 4
Persons accused of homicide, by gender-related criterion and accused characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021


Table 4
Persons accused of homicide, by gender-related criterion and accused characteristic, Canada, 2011 to 2021
Table summary
This table displays the results of Persons accused of homicide. The information is grouped by Accused characteristic (appearing as row headers), Gender-related homicides of women and girls and Non-gender-related homicides, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Accused characteristic Gender-related homicides of women and girlsTable 4 Note 1 Non-gender-related homicides
number percent number percent
Accused gender
Male 1,077 100 3,311 86
Female Note ...: not applicable Note ...: not applicable 557 14
Total 1,077 100 3,868 100
Criminal historyTable 4 Note 2
No criminal record 561 52 1,342 35
Violent offencesTable 4 Note 3 354 33 1,750 46
Property offencesTable 4 Note 4 95 9 654 17
Other offencesTable 4 Note 5 180 17 972 25
Unknown 4 Note ...: not applicable 33 Note ...: not applicable
Total 1,077 100 3,868 100
Mental or developmental disorder
No mental or developmental disorder 651 68 2,673 81
Suspected or known mental or developmental disorderTable 4 Note 6 303 32 627 19
Unknown 123 Note ...: not applicable 568 Note ...: not applicable
Total 1,077 100 3,868 100
Clearance status
Cleared by charge 839 78 3,687 95
Cleared otherwise 238 22 181 5
Total 1,077 100 3,868 100
Charge laid or recommendedTable 4 Note 7
First degree murder 319 38 1,024 28
Second degree murder 447 53 2,018 55
Manslaughter 72 9 642 17
Infanticide 0 0 2 Note 0s value rounded to 0 (zero) where there is a meaningful distinction between true zero and the value that was rounded
Unknown 1 Note ...: not applicable 1 Note ...: not applicable
Total 839 100 3,687 100
Accused suicide
No suicide 854 79 3,759 97
Died by suicide 223 21 109 3
Total 1,077 100 3,868 100
... not applicable
0s value rounded to 0 (zero) where there is a meaningful distinction between true zero and the value that was rounded
Note 1

Due to the analysis focusing on known accused only, this category includes data for persons accused of a homicide involving at least one female victim whose homicide could be classified as gender-related. Gender-related homicides of women and girls are solved homicides committed by a male accused who was an intimate partner or family member of the victim, inflicted sexual violence on the victim as part of the killing or killed a victim who was identified as a sex worker. Non-gender-related homicides are all those that do not contain the above qualifiers.

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Note 2

The criminal history categories are not mutually exclusive. An accused person can have a criminal history pertaining to violent, property and other offences.

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Note 3

Includes violent offences such as homicide, sexual assault and other sexual violations, assault, kidnapping, trafficking of persons, hostage taking, robbery, commodification of sexual activities, harassment, uttering threats and other violence offences not otherwise listed.

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Note 4

Includes non-violent offences such as arson, break and enter, theft, fraud, mischief and other crimes against property not otherwise listed.

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Note 5

Includes other Criminal Code offences (e.g., gaming/betting, offensive weapons), other Criminal Code offences not otherwise specified. Also includes offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) or Cannabis Act as well as other federal or provincial statute offences.

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Note 6

Based on the investigating officer's assessment of the mental health status of the accused at the time of the incident and is not a medical diagnosis. Examples of mental or developmental disorders could include schizophrenia, depression, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, neurodevelopmental disorders, dementia of Alzheimer's, psychotic and neurotic illnesses or antisocial personality behaviours which may have contributed to some degree to the homicide incident.

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Note 7

Analysis focuses on accused persons who were cleared by the laying or recommendation of charges only and represents the most serious charge laid or recommended.

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Note: Analysis focuses on known accused only. There may be a small number of homicides included in a given year's total that occurred in previous years. Homicides are counted according to the year in which they are reported to Statistics Canada. Excludes victims and accused where gender was coded as unknown. The year 2019 marked the first cycle of collection of the Homicide Survey data for which information on gender identity was reported for victims and persons accused of homicide. Gender refers to the gender a person publicly expresses in their daily life, including at work, while shopping or accessing other services, in their housing environment or in the broader community. Prior to 2019, Homicide Survey data was presented by the sex of the victims and accused persons. Sex and gender refer to two different concepts. Caution should be exercised when comparing counts for sex with those for gender. Given that small counts of victims and accused persons reported or were identified as being non-binary, the aggregate Homicide Survey data available to the public has been recoded to distribute these counts to either "men" or "women" in order to ensure the protection of confidentiality and privacy. Victims and accused persons who reported or were identified as being non-binary have been distributed to either men or women categories based on the regional distribution of victims’ or accused persons’ gender. Percent calculations exclude accused whose criminal history, mental health status and the charge laid or recommended was unknown. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Homicide Survey.
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