Notes

^1.

The focus in the first section of the study is on the criminal incident. The age of those accused in the incident is then used to distinguish between youth crime and adult crime. It should be noted that this definition of youth crime differs from that used in most other Statistics Canada studies. While this study uses a definition for youth crime that focuses on counts of incidents involving youth, other studies tend to use a definition that focuses on counts of youth accused of crime.

^2.

A small number of these incidents (approximately 2%) involved an accused who was under the age of 12.

^3.

Given this study analyses neighbourhood characteristics wherein youth commit crime and not the volume of crime in relation to adults, incidents involving multiple accused where at least one of the accused is aged 12 to 17 are considered incidents of youth crime. Incidents that include a mix of adult and youth represent only a small proportion of the total number of incidents.

^4.

See the Juristat article, "Where and when youth commit police-reported crimes, 2008" (Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002- X, vol. 30, no. 2), for a more detailed national-level discussion of the location, time of year, day of the week and time of day of police-reported youth crimes in Canada.

^5.

Other locations include universities and colleges, other non-commercial buildings and public institutions and buildings.

^6.

Data presented in this section may differ from data on youth crime published in other reports using UCR2 data because they are based on counts of incidents of crime involving youth, whereas other reports present data based on the number of youth accused.

^7.

The age range of 5 to 17 was used to determine day-time and night-time population based on the presence of school-aged children. Youth under the age of 12 cannot be charged with a criminal offence, although a small proportion (2%) of incidents involved youth under the age of 12.

^8.

The neighbourhood of residence of the accused youth is discussed in the section of this report entitled, 'Where do accused youth live?'.

^9.

The Toronto Police Service provided the total number of youth accused of a crime by dissemination area (i.e., neighbourhood) of residence. No actual addresses for accused youth were provided.

^10.

A dissemination area is a small, relatively stable geographic unit composed of one or more adjacent dissemination blocks. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which all census data are disseminated. Dissemination areas cover all the territory of Canada.

^11.

The focus in the first section of the study is on the criminal incident; the age of those accused in the incident is then used to distinguish between youth crime and adult crime. It should be noted that this definition of youth crime differs from that used in most other Statistics Canada studies. While this study uses a definition for youth crime that focuses on counts of incidents involving youth, other studies tend to use a definition that focuses on counts of youth accused of crime.

^12.

The age range of 5 to 17 was used to determine day-time and night-time population based on the presence of school-aged children. Youth under the age of 12 cannot be charged with a criminal offence, although a small proportion (2%) of incidents involved youth under the age of 12.