Crime in Canada

Crime in Canada has experienced wide swings in prevalence throughout its history. Much study has been done of the comparative experience and policies of Canada with its southern neighbour the United States, and this is a topic of intense debate within Canada.

Under the Canadian constitution, the power to establish criminal law and rules of criminal procedure belongs to the federal government. The provinces are responsible for law enforcement (although provincial policing is in many jurisdictions is contracted to the federal and national Royal Canadian Mounted Police), and while the power to prosecute offences belongs to the federal government, responsibility for prosecutions is delegated to the provinces for most types of criminal offences. Punishment and the laws themselves are uniform throughout the country, but some provinces maintain different levels of enforcement.

Statistics Canada data

There were 2,452,787 crimes reported in 2006; 48% were property related crimes and 12.6% were violent crimes. At a rate of 7,518 reported incidents per 100,000 people, the crime rate in 2006, the latest year for which there is statistics, was the lowest crime rate in twenty-five years. The crime rate has been in general decline since 1991.

The province with the lowest crime rate in 2006 was for the third straight year was Ontario with 5,689 per 100,000, followed by Quebec with 5909 per 100,000. The province with the highest crime rate for the 9th straight year was Saskatchewan with 13,711 per 100,000. Saskatoon is the city with the highest crime rate following by its provincial counterpart Regina. Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, and Saguenay have the lowest crime rates of any city and are all located in Quebec. The three northern territories have higher crime rates per capita than any province.

Crime Statistics by Province and Territory

Crime statistics vary considerably through different parts of Canada. In general, the eastern provinces have the lowest violent crime rates while the Western provinces have higher rates and the territories higher still. Of the provinces, Saskatchewan has the highest violent crime rate.

2006 crime statistics for the provinces and territories are given below, as reported by Statistics Canada.

Map of violent crime rates across Canada.

  < 800 per 100,000

  801-1000 per 100,000

  1001-1500 per 100,000

  1501-2000 per 100,000

  2001-3000 per 100,000

  3001-5000 per 100,000

  >5000 per 100,000

	Crimes rates by offences for each province and territory, 2006
	Canada	N.L.	P.E.I.	N.S.	N.B.	Que.	Ont.	Man.	Sask.	Alta.	B.C.	Y.T.	N.W.T.	Nvt.
	rate per 100,000 population
All incidents	8,269	6,571	7,486	8,698	6,781	6,626	6,251	12,325	15,276	10,336	12,564	22,197	44,074	32,831
Criminal Code offences (excluding traffic offences)	7,519	6,055	6,793	8,069	6,111	5,909	5,689	11,679	13,711	9,523	11,365	20,593	41,468	31,265
Crimes of violence	951	851	714	1,135	849	756	756	1,598	2,039	1,101	1,218	3,007	6,448	6,764
Homicide	1.9	1.4	0.7	1.7	0.9	1.2	1.5	3.3	4.1	2.8	2.5	0.0	0.0	6.5
Attempted murder	2.6	1.0	0.7	3.0	1.2	3.3	2.5	2.2	4.7	2.3	2.1	0.0	0.0	13.0
Assaults (level 1 to 3)	735	734	625	919	706	540	563	1,243	1,671	888	980	2,655	5,834	5,893
Sexual assault	68	67	48	86	67	67	56	108	125	64	75	195	373	598
Other sexual offences	9	5	11	7	18	13	5	11	15	7	10	51	55	46
Robbery	94	23	17	85	30	91	87	182	150	93	110	58	36	39
Other crimes of violence	41	20	12	34	27	40	41	48	71	44	39	48	151	169
Property crimes	3,588	2,363	3,000	3,514	2,562	3,114	2,811	4,951	4,776	4,480	5,685	5,107	6,357	4,256
Breaking and entering	768	737	537	735	599	867	541	1,074	1,228	768	1,088	1,467	2,332	1,965
Motor vehicle theft	487	131	115	263	187	507	303	1,376	633	725	682	445	927	621
Theft over $5,000	52	15	31	44	38	65	44	49	42	66	58	61	65	36
Theft $5,000 and under	1,889	1,252	2,002	1,940	1,446	1,399	1,531	2,152	2,392	2,383	3,367	2,780	2,654	1,316
Possession of stolen goods	108	34	52	233	54	43	110	88	160	188	139	77	136	140
Frauds	284	195	263	299	239	234	283	214	320	350	351	279	244	179
Other Criminal Code offences	2,980	2,841	3,079	3,420	2,700	2,039	2,122	5,130	6,896	3,942	4,462	12,479	28,664	20,246
Criminal Code offences (traffic offences)	368	279	508	328	321	415	245	284	963	490	441	974	1,393	809
Impaired driving	228	221	396	255	242	214	139	213	474	347	340	701	1,168	686
Other c.c. traffic offences	140	59	112	74	79	201	106	71	489	144	101	272	225	124
Federal statutes	383	237	186	301	349	302	317	362	602	322	758	631	1,214	757
Drugs	295	128	127	218	248	266	239	183	275	258	617	468	769	673
Other federal statutes	88	109	59	83	102	36	79	179	327	64	141	163	444	85

Comparisons

United States

The rate of property crime in the US and Canada are roughly on par. However, historically, the violent crime rate in Canada has been lower than the US and this continues to be the case. For example, in 2000 the United States' rate for robberies was 65% higher, its rate for aggravated assault was more than double and its murder rate was triple. .

That said, in recent years the gap between in violent crime rates between the United States and Canada has been narrowed. In some cases the US has seen a reduction in the rate of some types of crimes and Canada has not. For example, while the aggravated assault declined for most of 1990s in the US and sat at 324 per 100,000 in 2000, the aggravated assault remained relatively steady throughout and sat at 143 per 100,000 in 2000. In other cases, the US saw a faster decline. For instance, whereas the murder rate in Canada declined by 36% between 1991 and 2004, the US murder rate declined by 44%.

The homicide rate in Canada peaked in 1975 at 3.03 per 100,000 and has dropped since then; it reached lower peaks in 1985 (2.72) and 1991 (2.69). It reached a post 1970 low of 1.73 in 2003. The average murder rate between 1970 and 1976 was 2.52, between 1977 and 1983 it was 2.67, between 1984 and 1990 it was 2.41, between 1991 and 1997 it was 2.23 and between 1998 to 2004 it was 1.82. The attempted homicide rate has fallen at a faster rate than the homicide rate.

By comparison, the homicide rate in the US reached 10.1 per 100,000 in 1974, peaked in 1980 at 10.7 and reached a lower peak in 1991 (10.5). The murder rate dipped below 6 for the first time since 1966 in 2004. The average murder rate between 1970 and 1976 was 9.4, between 1977 and 1983 it was 9.6, between 1984 and 1990 it was 9, between 1991 and 1997 it was 9.2 and between 1998 and 2004 it was 6.3.

Approximately 70% of the total murders in the US are committed with firearms, vs. about 30% in Canada[1].

Other countries (comparisons)

Canada's crime rate is close to the averages in Western Europe or Australia but with differences. Property crime is lower than in some nations (e.g., United Kingdom, Sweden), and significantly lower than Australia but higher than in others (e.g., Spain, France). The violent crime rate (i.e., murder, weapons offenses and rape) is higher than most western European nations, in some cases more than double and in the case of rapes, Canada has the 5th highest number of rapes per capita of any country, roughly 10x as many as the EU average. Reporting techniques differ which can affect proper data comparisons.

Guns

Main article: Gun politics in Canada

Only one third of Canadian murders involve firearms. Most Canadian weapons are rifles or shotguns owned by rural property owners, hunters and target shooters, and are less likely to be used in crimes. Many types of weapons are banned or restricted in Canada. The two biggest provinces, Ontario and Quebec have had a long history of strict gun controls. Most of the users of these illegal firearms are youth in their teens and early 20s.

It is effectively illegal to carry concealed handguns in Canada, Although there is permit that allows people to carry if they can prove they need to protect their lives but the permit is very rarely issued. Defensive use of firearms is uncommon in Canada.

Canada has more guns and fewer controls on them than most nations in Western Europe (exceptions being Finland, Norway and Switzerland which have comparatively fewer restrictions) or Japan. Gun ownership rate is about 27% of households with great regional variations, rural much higher urban, west higher than east. Guns are also illegally brought into Canada.

Police

Main article: Law enforcement in Canada

Map of Police per 100,000 population across Canada.

  < 176

  176-200

  201-300

  301-400

  > 400

In 2005 there were 61,050 police officers in Canada which equates to one police officer per 528.6 persons, but with significant regional variations. Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island have the fewest police per capita with 664.9 persons per police officer in Newfoundland and 648.4 persons per officer in PEI. Conversely, the highest ratio of police to population is found in Canada's northern territories; Nunavut has 247.9 persons per police officer, the Northwest Territories has 248.5 persons per officer and the Yukon has 258.2 persons for each police officer.

That is a substantially lower rate than most developed countries with only Japan and Sweden having so few police officers. The United States has one officer per 411.5 persons, and Germany 344.8. The comparative size of the police force has begun to become a political issue in Canada, with some communities demanding greater police protection.

Canada's national police force is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) which is the main police force in Canada's north and rural areas outside of Quebec, Ontario, and Newfoundland. Those three provinces have their own provincial police forces although the RCMP still operate throughout rural Newfoundland and also provide specific federal policing services in Ontario and Quebec. Many cities and districts have their own municipal police forces, while others have contracts with the provincial police or RCMP to police their communities.

Punishment

There is controversy among criminologists over whether American harsh sentences are a cause or a reflection of higher crime rates. American sentences have been higher throughout the twentieth century, even during periods when the two country's crime rates were comparable.

Canada has comparatively low sentences for many crimes and most convicts receive parole after serving two thirds of their sentence. Canada also has abolished the death penalty since the 1970s. Sentences, especially for drug-related crimes are lower than sentences in the United States. Nowhere in Canada is there a law like California's "three strikes" policy. Canadian criminals are more likely to be given alternative sentences than jail times and more money is put into rehabilitation. Canada has a far lower percentage of its population in jail than the United States.

In addition, a less stringent approach to the punishment of some crimes, such as drug offenses, within Canada, may have the effect of skewing the data.

In 2001, Canada had about 32,000 people in prison or about 0.13% of the total population. The United States was the country with the highest number of people incarcerated. There were more than 2.2 million people living in jail (about 0.7% of the total population). The European average is of 0.2% of the total population, with France and Germany having lower rates than Canada, but with the United Kingdom, Spain and most of Eastern Europe having higher ones.

Racial factors

Although aboriginal persons make up 3.6% of Canada's population, they account for more than 20% of Canada's prison population. The prevalance of aboriginal persons incarcerated in Canada is thus 3x the number per capita of incarcerated African-Americans in the United States of America.

Immigration and crime

The federal Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada department ran a program from 1999 to 2003 called Project Early Intervention that targeted children in a community "made up of recent Arabic and Somalian immigrants" "to increase participants' resiliency to risk factors related to criminal behaviour." [2]

In 2004, Canada established a national action plan, aimed in part at reducing violence, called A Canada Fit for Children which said "children of recent immigrants and refugee children are more likely to experience economic disadvantage with its associated risks."

Terrorist attacks in Canada have been plotted by both foreign-born (typically naturalized citizens) and Canadian-born people. Half of the 12 identified alleged terrorists in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case are foreign-born and the other half are Canadian-born.

See also

• At Her Majesty's Pleasure
• Gangs in Canada

External links

• Correctional Service Canada (commonly called Corrections Canada) administers federal prisons and parole boards.
• Crime comparisons between Canada and the United States
• Homicide rate lowest in three decades (By ALLISON DUNFIELD, Globe and Mail, September 29, 2004)
• [3]abstract with download links of David P. Farrington, Patrick A. Langan, Michael Tonry, National crime rates compared, October 2004 Fuller abstract