Table 2
Police-reported online sexual offences against children, by incident clearance status, Canada, 2023

Table 2
Police-reported online sexual offences against children, by incident clearance status, Canada, 2023
Table summary
This table displays the results of Police-reported online sexual offences against children, by incident clearance status, Canada, 2023. The information is grouped by Incident clearance status (appearing as row headers), Non-consensual distribution of intimate images, Luring a child, Total online sexual offences against children1, Invitation to sexual touching and Other online sexual offences against children2, calculated using percent and number units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Incident clearance status Total online sexual offences against children Table 2 Note 1 Luring a child Non-consensual distribution of intimate images Invitation to sexual touching Other online sexual offences against children Table 2 Note 2
number percent number percent number percent number percent number percent
Note 0

true zero or a value rounded to zero

Note 1

For the purpose of this Juristat article, "children" refers to victims aged 17 years and younger.

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Note 2

The category other online sexual offences against children is a catch all category that encompasses all other sexual violations against children (excluding child pornography) which were facilitated by, or involved the use of, technology.

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Note 3

Unsolved incidents were previously classified simply as "not cleared." In 2018, more detailed options were added to better reflect the reasons why incidents may remain uncleared.

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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. Counts are based on the cyber violation which may not be the most serious violation in the incident. In 2023, the cyber violation was the most serious violation for 99% of online child sexual exploitation incidents. The data exclude Saint John Police Force. Includes a small proportion of incidents where victim age had to be recoded. For some incidents, the victim was 17 years or younger when the victimization began, but was an adult when the victimization ended. As such, the victim age in these incidents was recoded to the age when the victimization began. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.
Total 2,624 100 1,705 100 480 100 154 100 285 100
Not cleared 1,817 69 1,297 76 352 73 26 17 142 50
Not cleared Table 2 Note 3 33 2 31 2 0 0 0 0 2 1
Open, still under investigation 256 14 183 14 43 12 5 19 25 18
Insufficient evidence to proceed 1,275 70 953 73 218 62 15 58 89 63
Victim or complainant declined to proceed (no accused identified) 253 14 130 10 91 26 6 23 26 18
Cleared 807 31 408 24 128 27 128 83 143 50
Cleared by charge 611 76 326 80 36 28 126 98 123 86
Cleared otherwise 196 24 82 20 92 72 2 2 20 14
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