Statistics Canada Report on Criminal Harassment in Canada, 2009

Statistics Canada last week released its report entitled Criminal harassment in Canada, 2009:

"Criminal harassment, commonly referred to as stalking, refers to repeated conduct that is carried out over a period of time that causes victims to reasonably fear for their safety (Department of Justice, 2004). Examples of criminal harassment include repeatedly following or communicating with another person; repeatedly watching someone’s house or workplace; or directly threatening another person or member of their family causing a person to fear for their safety or for the safety of someone known to them. While criminal harassment legislation was introduced in 1993 in response to violence against women, the law applies equally to all victims. The goal of the legislation is to identify and respond to criminal harassment before it escalates into serious physical harm to victims and to prohibit deliberate conduct that is psychologically harmful to others in causing them to fear for their safety (Department of Justice, 2004)."

"In 2009, Canadian police services reported just over 20,000 incidents of criminal harassment ..., representing almost 5% of all violent crimes reported to police. Data from a sub-set of police services indicate that the rate of criminal harassment has been gradually increasing over the past decade ... Reports of criminal harassment to police services increased by 7% from 2008 to 2009."