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Gaps in Available Statistics on Crime and Delinquency in Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Nicolas Zay
Nicolas Zay*
Affiliation:
University of Montreal
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Extract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the most significant gaps in the Canadian criminal statistics. It seems fairly obvious that in order to achieve this end, an answer has first to be given to the question, “What are the objectives of criminal statistics?” This sets the stage for working out, in far more specific terms, why the collection of statistics is undertaken, what information is sought, and what use is to be made of the findings, and by whom.

The term “criminal statistics” is used very broadly to refer to all material collected regularly which gives information on any of the various phases of the law-enforcement process. Criminal statistics are an essential tool of administration and social planning for crime reduction. The basic postulate of this paper can be summarized as follows: Quantitative data obtained from the normal flow of activities of law-enforcement agencies at the various phases of the law-enforcement process become more meaningful when related to each other.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , February 1963 , pp. 75 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1963

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References

1 While it has been held for a long time that punishment is a deterrent and has a builtin re-education value, empirical evidence has never been produced to sustain this opinion.

2 Schwartz, Edward E., “Counting Delinquent Children,” Children, I, no. 6, 11–Dec., 1954, 228–9.Google Scholar

3 The data published formerly in a single report entitled Police Statistics, have been presented since 1960 in three separate bulletins: Police Administration Statistics, Crime Statistics, and Traffic Statistics.

4 Statistical material on the activities of the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police can also be found in the annual reports of these organizations.

5 DBS, Police Statistics, 1959, 7.Google Scholar

6 By this is meant the overt nature of the anti-social act or behaviour: for example, killing, stealing, counterfeiting, assaulting, and so on.

7 DBS, Juvenile Delinquents, 1958, 10.Google Scholar

8 Before the establishment of the DBS, court statistics were published first by the Department of Agriculture, later by the Department of Commerce.

9 In 1926, the title of the report became Statistics on Criminal and Other Offences.

10 In 1958, offences violating the criminal code made up 99 per cent of all offences.

11 In 1958, nearly 10 per cent of all persons charged with an indictable offence were acquitted.

12 The factual perspective takes into account the actual living conditions of the convicted person.

13 The main information available about “offenders” has been reviewed and analysed very ably by Giffen, P. J. in his paper “Canadian Criminal Statistics” in CPSA, Conference on Statistics, 1960, Papers (Toronto, 1962), 73–105.Google Scholar

14 In the annual report entided Juvenile Delinquents.

15 The upper age limit is seventeen in Newfoundland and eighteen in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Quebec.

16 In 1958, 2,311 juveniles sixteen and seventeen years old were found delinquent in those provinces where the upper age limit is under seventeen or under eighteen years of age ( Juvenile Delinquents, 1958, 7 Google Scholar). This number represents 18.3 per cent of all children found delinquent during the year 1958.

17 In 1958, 11,766 children were brought to court, but 13,134 appearances were counted. Ibid.

18 In 1958, 3,917 informal cases were reported by the courts, while the total number of appearances resulting in finding of delinquency amounted to 11,391. Ibid., 9.

19 United Nations, Department of Social Affairs, Practical results and financial aspects of adult probation in selected countries (New York, 1954).Google Scholar

20 In 1958, less than 10 per cent of all juvenile delinquents were brought to court and found delinquent twice or more.

21 Until 1956, these data were published in the report entitled Criminal Statistics and Other Offences; since 1957, in a separate bulletin Correctional Institution Statistics.

22 In Ontario, for instance, statistics on gaols and reformatories have been published since 1868, when the Inspector of Asylums, Prisons and Public Charities issued the first report on the subject. In Saskatchewan, the annual reports of the Department of Social Welfare, published since 1944, include some material on adult prisoners detained in provincial jails. In British Columbia, data on jails have been published since 1950 by the Director of Corrections.

23 Criminal Statistics and Other Offences, various years.

24 Juvenile Delinquents, 1958, 14.Google Scholar

25 Until 1956, these data were included in the DBS report Statistics on Criminal and Other Offences.

26 MacLeod, A. J., “Corrections in Canada–1947 and Today” in Proceedings of the Canadian Congress of Corrections, 1957, 34.Google Scholar

27 National Parole Board, First Annual Report, 1959, 13.Google Scholar

28 Zay, N., “La recherche dans le domaine correctionnel,” Le Travailleur Social, XXX, no. 1, 10–16.Google Scholar