Statistics Canada Article on Police-Reported Crime Numbers

Statistics Canada has published a new article on Police-reported crime statistics, 2016.

It examines trends in the volume and seriousness of police-reported crime for both violent and non-violent offences at the national, provincial/territorial and census metropolitan area levels. Specific violations, such as homicide, sexual assault, and breaking and entering are examined, as well as trends in youth accused of crime.

"The police-reported Crime Severity Index (CSI), which measures the volume and severity of crime, increased 1% in 2016 over the previous year. This marked the second consecutive rise in the index following 11 years of declines. Even with this increase, the index is still 29% lower than it was in 2006."

"The CSI is a measure of police-reported crime that reflects the relative seriousness of individual offences and tracks changes in crime severity. It indicates whether police-reported crime was relatively more or less serious than in previous years. For ease of interpretation, the index is converted to 100 for the base year of 2006."

"The rise in Canada's CSI in 2016 was primarily driven by a continued increase in the rate of fraud. In addition, increases were reported in rates of administration of justice offences (such as breach of probation), sexual violations against children, and child pornography. At the same time, fewer police-reported incidents of breaking and entering, mischief and robbery were reported. Together, these changes contributed to a slight increase in Canada's CSI compared with 2015."