Statistics Canada Article on Adult Criminal Court Statistics

The Statistics Canada publication Juristat has published an article entitled Adult criminal court statistics in Canada, 2013/2014:

"It presents several key indicators of the adult criminal court process, and focuses on the number of completed cases (including the most common types of offences), the decisions made in cases, as well as the types of sentences that are imposed on accused persons who are found guilty. In addition, this article briefly presents results by age and sex of the accused, median sentence lengths, as well as the amount of time it takes to process completed adult criminal court cases and the factors which may influence court timeliness."

Among the highlights:

• In 2013/2014, there were more than 360,000 cases completed in adult criminal court, which represented a 7% decrease in the number of cases from the previous year.
• The number of completed cases declined in most provinces/territories in 2013/2014. Quebec (-15%), British Columbia (-9%) and Prince Edward Island (-8%) reported the largest year-over-year decreases in the number of completed cases. In contrast, Yukon experienced an increase (+6%) in the number of completed cases, while completed cases in Manitoba and Alberta remained relatively stable.
• Most adult criminal court cases in 2013/2014 involved non-violent crime, representing 76% of all completed cases. Impaired driving continued to represent the largest proportion of all completed cases, at 11%. This was closely followed by cases involving theft (10%) and failure to comply with a court order (10%).
• Property crime court cases decreased by 7%, with the largest declines occurring within break and enter (-12%) and other property offences (-11%) cases. Cases involving administration of justice offences decreased by 4% in 2013/2014.
• There were 7% fewer violent crime cases in 2013/2014. Cases involving robbery (-15%), uttering threats (-10%), and other violent offences (-10%) had the largest year-over-year declines.
• Persons under the age of 35 represented almost 60% of all accused persons appearing in adult criminal court in 2013/2014.
• Similar to previous years, 63% of all cases completed in adult criminal court resulted in a finding of guilt.
• Probation was the most common type of sentence imposed in adult criminal court in 2013/2014, at 43% of all guilty cases. The median length of probation was 365 days.
• Custody was the second most frequently imposed sentence in 2013/2014. Slightly more than one third (36%) of all guilty cases received a custodial sentence.
• Most custodial sentences had a length of less than six months in 2013/2014. The median length of custody was 30 days. Only 3% of custody cases received a sentence of two years or more.