Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2019

Date: October 29, 2020
Classification: Unclassified
Branch / Agency: Portfolio Affairs and Communications

Issue:

On October 29, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada, published a Juristat report entitled, “Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2019”.

Proposed Response:

Background:

This report includes all Criminal Code and federal statute offences reported by police services to Statistics Canada’s Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. It examines trends in overall crime as well as specific offences, including homicide, firearms, human trafficking, child sexual exploitation and impaired driving. Comparisons are made at the provincial/territorial and census metropolitan area levels. Note that information on hate crime, organized crime and cybercrime are not part of this release and will be released separately in late November

It should be noted that these crime statistics reflect only those incidents that are reported to the police. Many crimes are traditionally under-reported (e.g., sexual assault) and statistics can be affected by large-scale criminal events, social movements and changes in legislation, policies and procedures. For the first time, police services provided data on the race of all victims and accused persons involved in incidents of homicide.

Highlights:

Overall crime

Police-reported crime in Canada, as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI), increased 5% in 2019, the fifth consecutive annual increase. However, the 2019 CSI value of 79.5 was still 9% lower than a decade earlier (87.8).

Homicide and guns and gangs

Homicide victims and accused: Indigenous and racialized communities

Violent crimes (e.g., firearms, sexual assaults, sexual offences against children, human trafficking)

Impaired driving and drug-impaired driving

Contacts:

Prepared by: John Turner, Policy Analyst, Portfolio Affairs and Communications Branch, 613-864-5338
Approved by: Jill Wherrett, ADM, Portfolio Affairs and Communications Branch, 613-949-6435

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