The Daily. Wednesday, July 21, 1999

Crime statistics

The crime rate, based on crimes reported by police, fell for the seventh consecutive year in 1998. The 4.1% drop resulted in the lowest rate in almost 20 years. Most crimes declined in 1998, including homicide, attempted murder, sexual assault, robbery, break and enter, motor vehicle theft and impaired driving. Among the few crimes showing an increase were drug offences (+6.0%) and prostitution (+1.7%).

Since peaking in 1991, the national crime rate has declined 21.7%. However, this rate is still almost double that of 30 years ago. Of the 2.5 million incidents reported in 1998, 12% were violent crimes, 56% were property crimes, and the remaining 32% were other Criminal Code offences.

Most provinces and territories followed the national trend, with the largest declines seen in Yukon, Prince Edward Island and Ontario. Only the Northwest Territories, Newfoundland, and Saskatchewan reported an increase.

The highest crime rates were found in the territories and in the Western provinces. Saskatchewan, where crime rates have been rising since 1994, now has the highest rate among the provinces, followed by British Columbia. Newfoundland continues to have the lowest crime rate.

Violent crime declining since 1992

The rate for violent crimes was down 1.5% in 1998, the sixth consecutive annual decline. Police reported slightly less than 300,000 violent crimes, the majority of which (62%) were common assault, the least serious assault category.

The largest declines in violent crime were in Yukon, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Manitoba. Saskatchewan and Quebec reported the largest increases. Among the provinces, Manitoba and Saskatchewan reported the highest violent crime rates, while Quebec and Prince Edward Island recorded the lowest rates.

All major categories of violent crime remained stable or decreased in 1998. The homicide rate, which includes first- and second-degree murder, manslaughter and infanticide, dropped 6.2%, reaching its lowest level since 1968. The 555 homicides were 31 fewer than in 1997. The homicide rate has generally been declining since the mid-1970s. The rate of attempted murder also dropped in 1998 (-15.5%), continuing to follow the trend for homicide.

Note to readers The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) collects crime data from police forces according to a nationally approved set of rules and definitions. However, many factors could influence official crime statistics. These include reporting by the public to the police, reporting by police to the CCJS and the impact of new initiatives such as changes in legislation, policies or enforcement practices. Many factors point to the conclusion that crime rates have declined in recent years in most of Canada and in many other industrialized countries. First, the recent declines have been seen in most provinces and in the vast majority of Canada's metropolitan areas. Second, declines have been seen in serious crimes such as homicide and robbery, which are less prone to non-reporting. Third, victimization surveys, which measure the public's experiences as victims of crime regardless of whether the incidents were reported to police, have confirmed these recent declines. Fourth, similar trends are being seen in most other industrialized parts of the world, including the United States. There are no simple reasons why crime is down, but there are many possible explanations. One common explanation is changing demographics. Canada's population is ageing. The population aged 55 and over, an age group characterized by very low involvement in crime, is increasing every year. Furthermore, the proportion of young people aged 15 to 24, those most prone to criminal activity, has been declining for many years. This reduction has coincided with the decline in crime rates seen since the early 1990s. However, while this age group began to decline in 1978, the crime rate was still increasing until 1991. All this seems to indicate that there are other factors to explain the decreasing crime rate. Some of these factors may be the unemployment rate, changing family structures, education levels and drug use. Using CMAs to report urban crime Crime data for major urban areas are presented in this report according to census metropolitan areas (CMAs). CMAs are used to improve the comparability of crime rates among major cities by ensuring that a comparable mix of urban, suburban and rural areas are included for each metropolitan area. Usually more than one police service is responsible for enforcing the law within the boundaries of a CMA.

The rate of sexual assault declined for the fifth straight year, down 6.6% from 1997. Of the just over 25,000 incidents of sexual assault reported by police in 1998, the vast majority (97%) were classified as level I, the category of least physical injury to the victim. The rate of assault remained stable, as it has since 1995. The robbery rate decreased for the second straight year (-3.1%).

Rates of violent crime declined in 15 of the 25 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) in 1998. The largest declines were in Halifax, Québec and Winnipeg, while the largest increases were in Windsor, Kitchener and Montréal.

Thunder Bay and Regina continued to report the highest rates of violent crime, while the lowest were reported in Sherbrooke and Québec. Homicide rates were highest in Regina and Halifax and lowest in Trois-Rivières and Saint John.

Selected criminal incidents reported by police

Fewer incidents involved firearms

Robberies committed with a firearm have decreased steadily since 1991, including a 3.5% drop in 1998. Robberies with a firearm accounted for 18% of all robberies in 1998, down from 25% ten years ago, and 37% 20 years ago.

Data from a sample of 94 police services, including Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver, indicate that the presence of firearms in violent crime has declined steadily over the last five years, from 6.5% of all violent incidents in 1994 to 4.8% in 1998.

Property crime down for seventh consecutive year

The property crime rate fell 6.7% in 1998, continuing the general decline since 1991. Property crimes dropped in all provinces and territories except Newfoundland. All major categories of property crime decreased in 1998.

Break-ins accounted for about one-quarter of the 1.4 million police-reported incidents involving property in 1998. The rate of residential break-ins dropped for the second straight year, down 6.4% from 1997. Business break-ins fell 9.2%.

After growing steadily for more than a decade, the rate of motor vehicle theft declined for the second consecutive year (-7.3%). However, the rate still remains almost 60% higher than a decade earlier. Police reported just over 165,000 stolen vehicles in 1998, an average of about 450 per day. The theft of trucks, minivans and sport-utility vehicles decreased for the first time in 15 years.

Property crime rates dropped in 21 of the 25 CMAs, with the largest decreases in Toronto and London. The largest increases were reported in St. John's and Halifax.

The latest drop in Toronto gives it the lowest property crime rate of all 25 CMAs, followed by Saint John. Regina, which reported the highest rates of both break and enter and motor vehicle theft, continued to show the highest property crime rate, followed by Vancouver.

Impaired driving continues to decline

The rate of persons charged with impaired driving has been declining since the early 1980s. This trend continued in 1998, with a further 3.3% drop. Of the approximately 70,000 persons charged with this offence, 103 were charged with impaired driving causing death, six fewer than in 1997. This number has generally been declining since 1989 when 183 people were charged with impaired driving causing death.

Youth crime continues to decrease

Almost 107,000 youths aged 12 to 17 were charged by police in 1998. The youth crime rate, as measured by the number of youths charged per 100,000 youths, has been dropping since 1991, including a 4.0% decrease in 1998.

Youth crime continues to be more property-oriented than crimes committed by adults. Violent crimes accounted for 20% of youth crime compared with 29% of all crimes committed by adults.

The rate for youths charged with violent crimes fell marginally (-0.6%) for the third year in a row, following drops of 2.4% in 1997 and 0.9% in 1996. Despite these recent declines, the 1998 youth violent crime rate was still 77% higher than a decade ago.

Among violent crimes, the rate of youths charged dropped for robbery (-6.3%) and sexual assault (-4.2%), while it increased for homicide (+3.2%) and assault (+0.9%). There were 56 youths charged with homicide, two more than in 1997 and slightly higher than the average of 51 seen over the past decade.

Over the past decade, the violent crime rate of female youths has increased twice as fast as for male youths. In 1998, the rate of male youths charged with violent crime decreased slightly (-0.9%) while that for female youths remained unchanged. The rate of female youths charged with violent crime is still much lower (474 per 100,000 population) than that for male youths (1,310).

The youth crime rate is generally measured using the number of youths charged by police. With the increasing use of diversion for many first-time, non-violent offenders, it is important to also examine the trend in youths not formally charged by police. While not all police services provide these statistics, those that do so show that the number of youths not formally charged has also been declining in recent years.

Available on CANSIM: matrices 2198-2200 and tables 00140103 and 00150202.

Juristat: Canadian crime statistics, 1998, vol. 19, no. 9 (85-002-XPE, $10/93; 85-002-XIE, $8/$70) is now available. See How to order publications.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Information and Client Services (613-951-9023 or 1-800-387-2231), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

Crime rates by province and territory

Crime rates for Census Metropolitan Areas