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Crime in Canada

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Crime in Canada has occured throughout its history, and has experienced wide swings in its prevalence. Much study has been done of the comparative experience and policies of Canada with its southern neighbour the United States, and this is a topic of intense debate within Canada.

Under the Canadian constitution, criminal law is in the federal jurisdiction, with the provinces being constitutionally responsible for enforcement and prosecution. Punishment and the laws themselves are uniform throughout the country, but some provinces maintain different levels of enforcement.

Statistics Canada Data

According to Statistics Canada, in 2005, there were roughly 2.5 million crimes reported, of which 48% were property related crimes and 12% were violent crimes.[1] However, the number of reported crimes are only a fraction of the total number of crimes committed in the country. It has been estimated that only 52% of thefts, 47% of robberies, 46% of vandalism, 32% of general assaults and 10% of sexual assaults are reported.[2]

The crime rate in 2002 was the lowest crime rate in twenty-five years with 7,590 reported incidents per 100,000 people. This number increased to over 8,000 per 100,000 in 2003 and 2004, and dropped slightly in 2005 to 7,761 per 100,000[3]. While most types of crimes have shown a modest decrease or have held steady in the past few years, in 2005, murder and attempted murder rates rose to their highest levels in a decade, with 658 and 772 incidents respectively. Even though attempted murder has gone up every year from 2003, compared with 1995 it has decreased 20%. Homicide has only increased by 2% from 1995, but jumped 13% in 2004 and 4% more in 2005.[4]. Much of the recent increase has been attributed to drug related turf disputes, mostly in Alberta (70% increase) and Ontario (16% increase) from 2003 to 2005. However, nationwide homicides rates are still about a third less than peak rates seen in the mid-1970s.

The province with the lowest crime rate is Ontario with 5,780 per 100,000. Quebec is close behind with 6,032 per 100,000. The province with the highest crime rates is Saskatchewan with 14,320 per 100,000. Saskatoon is the city with the highest violent crime rate of major cities overtaking its provincial counterpart Regina. Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, and Saguenay have the lowest crime rates of any city and are all located in Quebec.[5]. In 2005, Edmonton had the highest murder rate. The three northern territories have higher crime rates per capita than any province.

I should be noted that in its own publication, Statistics Canada indicated "the data came from the Canadian and American Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) programs and the Canadian and American Homicide Surveys. The different number of offences collected in the two UCR programs- 106 in Canada and 8 in the United States- prevents direct comparison of the American and Canadian total crime rates."[6]

Comparisons

United States

Compared to the United States, Statistics Canada date has consistently demonstrated a substantially lower rate of violent crime, but similar rates of property crime[7]. For example, in 2000 the United States' rate for robberies was 65% higher, its rate for aggravated assault was double the Canadian rate, and its murder rate was triple.

Comparing this with data from the U.S Department of Justice, in recent years the gap between in crime rates between the United States and Canada has been narrowing: crime rates in the US have declined faster than those in Canada[8][9]. The current US murder rate is 2.5 times that of Canada per capita[10][11], down from about four times as high during the 1980s. Approximately 70% of the total murders in the US are committed with firearms, vs. about 30% in Canada[15].

Others, such as David Frum have argued that the situation is in fact far worse, with America's crime problem having dramatically improved in recent years, while Canada's is becoming seriously worse. Quoting from a Toronto Star article, he has argued "Toronto's 78 homicides in 2005 appears to compare favorably to the homicide totals of the three American cities cited by the Star. But those 78 Toronto homicides in 2005 represent a 28% increase over the 61 homicides recorded in Toronto in 1995. Meanwhile, the three U.S. cities cited by the Star each achieved dramatic decreases over the past decade: Chicago down 46% from 823, Washington down 46% from 365, Baltimore down 17% from 322." [12]

Other countries (comparisons)

Canada's crime rate is close to the averages in Western Europe or Australia but with differences. Property crime is lower than in some nations (e.g., United Kingdom, Sweden), and significantly lower than Australia but higher than in others (e.g., Spain, France). The violent crime rate (i.e., murder, weapons offenses and rape) is higher than most western European nations, in some cases more than double[13].

Guns

One of the most common explanations given for the hsitorically higher violent crime rate in the United States are guns. Gun crimes are far more common in the United States. Only one third of Canadian murders involve firearms compared to two thirds in the States. Guns are more likely to be used in robberies in the United States. Most Canadian weapons are rifles or shotguns owned by rural property owners, hunters and target shooters, and are less likely to be used in crimes. More types of weapons are banned or restricted in Canada than the United States. The two biggest provinces, Ontario and Quebec have had a long history of strict gun controls. However, the city of Toronto is currently experiencing problems controlling the criminal use of handguns and other illegal firearms which are predominantly smuggled from the United States. Unfortunately, most of the users of these firearms are youth in their teens and early 20's who live in Toronto's low-income areas.

The strictness of gun controls varies widely across the US, from Alaska[14] and Vermont[15] which have virtually no gun controls at all, to Washington DC[16] and New York City[17], which have among the most severe gun laws in North America. Vermont and Alaska, and other states with similarly few restrictions on the ownership and carry of defensive firearms, routinely post the lowest violent crime numbers in the US[18], significantly lower than Canada as a whole.

Canada has effectively no legal concealed carry of handguns for self-defence, whereas forty five U.S. states have such a provision. Defensive use of firearms is much more common in the United States than in Canada.

Canada has more guns and fewer controls on them than most nations in Western Europe (exceptions being Finland, Norway and Switzerland which have comparatively fewer restrictions) or Japan.

Police

In 2005 there were 61,050 police officers in Canada which equates to one police officer per 528.6 persons, but with significant regional variations.[19] Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island have the fewest police per capita with 664.9 persons per police officer in Newfoundland and 648.4 persons per officer in PEI. Conversely, the highest ratio of police to population is found in Canada's northern territories; Nunavut has 247.9 persons per police officer, the Northwest Territories has 248.5 persons per officer and the Yukon has 258.2 persons for each police officer.[20]

That is a substantially lower rate than most developed countries with only Japan and Sweden having so few police officers. The United States has 243 per 100,000 and Germany 290. Canada's national police force is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) which is the main police force in Canada's north and rural areas outside of Quebec, Ontario, and Newfoundland. Those three provinces have their own provincial police forces. Major cities and many other municipalities also have their own police forces.

Punishment

There is controversy among criminologists over whether American harsh sentences are a cause or a reflection of higher crime rates. American sentences have been higher throughout the twentieth century, even during periods when the two country's crime rates were comparable.

Canada has comparatively low sentences for many crimes and most convicts receive parole after serving one third of their sentence[citation needed]. Canada also has not had the death penalty since the 1970s. Sentences, especially for drug related crimes are lower than sentences in the United States. There is nowhere in Canada a law such as California's three strikes policy. Canadian criminals are more likely to be given alternative sentences than jail times and more money is put into rehabilitation[citation needed]. Canada thus has a far lower percentage of its population in jail than the United States.

In addition, a less stringent approach to the punishment of some crimes, such as drug offenses, within Canada, may have the effect of skewing the data.

In 2001, Canada had about 32,000 people in prison or about 0.13% of the population. In the United States about 0.7% of the population is incarcerated and the European average is 0.2% with France and Germany having lower rates than Canada, but the United Kingdom, Spain and most of Eastern Europe having higher ones.

Racial factors

Although aboriginal persons make up 3.6% of Canada's population, they account for more than 20% of Canada's prison population. [21]

Immigration and crime

In 2005, Gwyn Morgan raised the issue of linking refugees with crime in Canada, saying among other things that "It's fair to say that most immigrants who abuse our society have come in as refugee claimants rather than 'economic immigrants'." His opinions on this topic were rejected by some New Democratic Party and Liberal Members of Parliament[22].

The federal Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada department ran a program from 1999 to 2003 called Project Early Intervention that targeted children in a community "made up of recent Arabic and Somalian immigrants" with the goal of reducing crime.

In 2004, Canada established a national action plan, aimed in part at reducing violence, called A Canada Fit for Children which said "children of recent immigrants and refugee children are more likely to experience economic disadvantage with its associated risks."

Terrorist attacks in Canada have been plotted by both foreign-born (typically naturalized citizens) and Canadian-born people. Half of the 12 identified alleged terrorists in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case are foreign-born and the other half are Canadian-born.

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Roach, Kent (2004). Criminal Law, 3rd Edition. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Irwin Law. pp. pp. 1-2. ISBN 1-55221-091-X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ [4]
  6. ^ http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/011218/d011218b.htm
  7. ^ Statistics Canada Daily
  8. ^ [5]
  9. ^ [6]
  10. ^ [7]
  11. ^ [8]
  12. ^ http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=fb715fde-9cee-42e2-ae75-81061c3cee14
  13. ^ [9]
  14. ^ [10]
  15. ^ [11]
  16. ^ [12]
  17. ^ [13]
  18. ^ [14]
  19. ^ "Police personnel". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
  20. ^ "Police officers, by province and territory". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
  21. ^ "Aboriginal people over-represented in Saskatchewan's prisons". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
  22. ^ Maclean's magazine, 2006
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