Table 6
Incident characteristics of police-reported incidents of online sexual offences against children, online child pornography and physical assault, by clearance and court outcomes, Canada, 2014 to 2021

Table 6
Incident characteristics of police-reported incidents of online sexual offences against children, online child pornography and physical assault, by clearance and court outcomes, Canada, 2014 to 2021
Table summary
This table displays the results of Incident characteristics of police-reported incidents of online sexual offences against children, online child pornography and physical assault, by clearance and court outcomes, Canada, 2014 to 2021. The information is grouped by Incident characteristic (appearing as row headers), Incidents, Did not go to court4, Went to court4, Online sexual offences against children1, Online child sexual exploitation, Physical assault3, Online child pornography2 and Charges laid or recommended, calculated using percent and number units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Incident characteristic Online child sexual exploitation Physical assault Table 6 Note 3
Online sexual offences against children Table 6 Note 1 Online child pornography Table 6 Note 2
Incidents Charges laid or recommended Went to court Table 6 Note 4 Did not go to court Table 6 Note 4 Incidents Charges laid or recommended Went to court Table 6 Note 4 Did not go to court Table 6 Note 4 Incidents Charges laid or recommended Went to court Table 6 Note 4 Did not go to court Table 6 Note 4
number percent number percent number percent
Note 0

true zero or a value rounded to zero

Note ...

not applicable

Note 1

Includes online sexual violations against children and other online sexual offences where a victim was identified as being aged 17 years or younger at the start of the incident.

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Note 2

Includes offences under section 163.1 of the Criminal Code which makes it illegal to make, distribute, possess or access child pornography. Online child pornography incidents do not have victim files.

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Note 3

Physical assault includes assault (levels 1, 2, 3), unlawfully causing bodily harm, and other assaults where a victim was identified as being 17 years of age or younger at the start of the incident and where physical assault was the most serious violation in the incident.

Return to note 3 referrer

Note 4

"Went to court" means that the incident was successfully linked to a completed court case between 2013/2014 and 2022/2023. The court case to which the incident was linked did not necessarily retain a specific charge for online child sexual exploitation or physical assault, once heard in court. The term "did not go to court" is the residual of all incidents where charges were laid or recommended, after subtracting those that were linked to a completed court case.

Return to note 4 referrer

Note 5

Based on the end date of an incident.

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Note 6

Includes incidents that were reported before the recorded end date.

Return to note 6 referrer

Note: The sum of the categories may not add up to the total as unknown values are not always displayed. As there can be multiple victims in an incident, the sum of victims does not equal the sum of incidents. Similarly, as not all incidents result in the identification of an accused person, and there can be multiple accused persons in the same incident, the sum of accused persons can also differ. For online child sexual exploitation, offences reflect the cyber violation in the incident which may not always be the most serious violation in the incident.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey and Integrated Criminal Courts Survey (linked file).
Total incidents 13,968 4,500 32 53 47 36,685 3,530 10 53 47 205,482 76,104 37 73 27
Number of victims identified in incident  
Single victim 9,036 2,987 33 51 49 ... not applicable ... not applicable ... not applicable ... not applicable ... not applicable 166,635 52,670 32 72 28
Multiple victims 937 506 54 54 46 ... not applicable ... not applicable ... not applicable ... not applicable ... not applicable 38,847 23,434 60 74 26
No victims 3,995 1,007 25 58 42 36,685 3,530 10 53 47 0 0 ... not applicable ... not applicable ... not applicable
Delay in reporting to police Table 6 Note 5  
Reported same or next day 8,835 2,400 27 56 44 14,582 1,269 9 57 43 170,843 64,200 38 75 25
Reported same day as incident 7,721 2,115 27 56 44 13,956 1,175 8 57 43 153,434 58,551 38 75 25
Reported next day after incident 1,114 285 26 56 44 626 94 15 56 44 17,409 5,649 32 72 28
Reported 2 to 7 days after incident 1,532 413 27 51 49 1,571 255 16 56 44 17,982 5,770 32 67 33
Reported 8 to 30 days after incident 1,051 394 37 55 45 3,923 474 12 53 47 7,462 2,513 34 58 42
Reported 31 to 365 days after incident 1,692 769 45 48 52 15,396 1,175 8 47 53 5,752 2,293 40 52 48
Reported more than one year after incident 593 350 59 42 58 876 137 16 45 55 2,188 758 35 48 52
Unknown Table 6 Note 6 265 174 66 61 39 337 220 65 57 43 1,255 570 45 70 30
Secondary violations  
No secondary violation 9,347 1,515 16 42 58 17,605 1,808 10 54 46 165,233 44,091 27 67 33
At least one secondary violation 4,621 2,985 65 59 41 19,080 1,722 9 51 49 40,249 32,013 80 81 19
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