Statistics Canada Article on Co-Offending

The Statistics Canada publication Juristat has published a new article entitled Co-offending in Canada, 2011:

"Co-offences can be categorized into pair crimes, those incidents committed by 2 offenders, and group crimes, which involve 3 or more offenders. Measuring the nature and extent of co-offending is an area of importance as previous studies have shown that co-offences are, on average, more serious than those involving a lone offender (...)"

"In 2011, co-offending accounted for 11% of cleared incidents reported by police. As seen with crime rates overall, the prevalence of co-offending has declined over time, falling 2.3% between 1995 and 2006, with little change after that year. Most co-offences in 2011 were pair crimes, involving just 2 accused. Group crimes involving numerous offenders (i.e. 6 or more persons) were found to be somewhat rare, comprising less than 2% of all co-offences. Overall, females were more likely than males to be co-offenders, though more than half of co-offending incidents were committed by all male groups. Youth were more likely than adults to be co-offenders and the prevalence of co-offending decreased with age. In general, co-offending was found to be most common among drug and property related crime, particular for incidents in which all accused were youth. Co-offending incidents were more serious, on average, than incidents involving a lone accused."