Canada Crime Stats
Author: chris.lockyer781
The federal government of Canada has the authority to create laws on criminality, regulations in investigation and crime prosecution. Provinces take care of law enforcement although police jurisdiction is left to federal agencies and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The crime rate in Canada continues to go down with the homicide rate declining to the lowest level in the last 46 years. The crime severity rate also went down by three percent. Observers claim that one of the reasons for this decline is the tightening of crime laws by conservative legislators.
Besides, citizens do not possess legal rights to possess firearms in Canada. Purchasing a gun takes two months. There is no compulsory licensing for owners of guns. A private citizen in Canada can only apply for a firearms license by having third party references, go through a safety training program and pass the required background checks. These verifications cover criminal, drug addiction and mental health histories. Civilians are not permitted to own automatic firearms, modified handguns, shotguns, automatic rifles, and several types of semi-automatic assault rifles.
Background:
Definitions
- Age of criminal responsibility: The age at which a person is no longer excluded from criminal liability. The lowest age is indicated for countries where there isn’t a single age limit, for example where different states have different regulations (such as the USA) or there is different limits for boy and girls (such as in Iran). The spectrum is specifically wide for the USA and Mexico (both 6-12 years). Several US states do not stipulate any minimal age for criminal responsibility at all. For further qualifications, exceptions and other notes, please refer to notes.
- Assault rate: Number of assaults recorded by police per 100,000 population
- Crime levels: Level of crime. Based on 0-50 contributions for Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria and 82 more countries and 50-100 contributions for Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria and 24 more countries and over 100 contributions for Australia, Brazil, Canada and 17 more countries. The surveys were conducted by numbeo.com from July, 2011 to February, 2014. See this sample survey for the United States, respondents were asked "How serious you feel the level of crime is?". The higher the value, the more survey respondents believe it is high in their country.
- Drugs > Annual cannabis use: Estimate of percentage of 15-64 year old population who use Cannabis.
- Drugs > Opiates use: Annual prevalence.
- Murder rate: Homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants in various countries.
- Police officers: Number of police officers per 100,000 population.
- Rape rate: Number of rape incidents per 100,000 citizens in different countries. Figures do not take into account rape incidents that go unreported to the police.
- Total crimes: Note: Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.
- Violent crime > Gun crime > Guns per 100 residents: Number of privately owned small firearms per 100 residents.
- Violent crime > Intentional homicide rate: Homicides per 100’000 residents. Homicide is the death of a person purposefully inflicted by another person (it excludes suicides) outside of a state of war. Homicide is a broader category than murder, as it also includes manslaughter. The exact legal definition varies across countries, some of which include infanticide, assisted suicide, euthanasia and deaths caused by dangerous driving.
- Violent crime > Murder rate: Intentional homicide, number and rate per 100,000 population.
- Violent crime > Murder rate per million people: Intentional homicide, number and rate per 100,000 population. Figures expressed per million people for the same year.
- Violent crime > Rapes: The number of recorded rapes. Large numbers of rapes go unreported. South Africa is estimated to have 500,000 rapes per year, Egypt 200,000, China 32,000 and the UK with 85,000 rapes per year.
- Violent crime > Rapes per million people: The number of recorded rapes. Large numbers of rapes go unreported. South Africa is estimated to have 500,000 rapes per year, Egypt 200,000, China 32,000 and the UK with 85,000 rapes per year. Figures expressed per million people for the same year.
SOURCES: Wikipedia: Defense of infancy (Ages of criminal responsibility by country); European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control International Statistics on Crime and Justice, 2011; crime; https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/WDR2011/World_Drug_Report_2011_ebook.pdf, World Drug Report 2011, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2011, p. 217.; Wikipedia: List of countries by prevalence of opiates use ("World Drug Report 2011" . United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2011. "World Drug Report 2006" . United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2006. http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2009/WDR2009_eng_web.pdf); UN Crime Stats; The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention); Annexe I of the Small Arms Survey 2007 ; Wikipedia: List of countries by intentional homicide rate by decade; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Source tables; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Source tables. Population figures from World Bank: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database.; Statistics : Crime : Sexual Violence (UNODC) and Crime Statistics : Sexual Violence Against Children and Rape, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; Statistics : Crime : Sexual Violence (UNODC) and Crime Statistics : Sexual Violence Against Children and Rape, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Population figures from World Bank: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database.
Citation
Canada Crime Profiles (Subcategories)
| Death penalty 3 | Prosecutions 8 |
| Drugs 5 | Punishment 6 |
| Fear of crime 9 | Suicide rates 7 |
| Perceived problems 4 | United States extradition treaties 3 |
| Prisoners 4 | Violent crime 8 |
- Canada ranked first for assault rate amongst NATO countries in 2011.
4
The federal government of Canada has the authority to create laws on criminality, regulations in investigation and crime prosecution. Provinces take care of law enforcement although police jurisdiction is left to federal agencies and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The crime rate in Canada continues to go down with the homicide rate declining to the lowest level in the last 46 years. The crime severity rate also went down by three percent. Observers claim that one of the reasons for this decline is the tightening of crime laws by conservative legislators.
Besides, citizens do not possess legal rights to possess firearms in Canada. Purchasing a gun takes two months. There is no compulsory licensing for owners of guns. A private citizen in Canada can only apply for a firearms license by having third party references, go through a safety training program and pass the required background checks. These verifications cover criminal, drug addiction and mental health histories. Civilians are not permitted to own automatic firearms, modified handguns, shotguns, automatic rifles, and several types of semi-automatic assault rifles.
Posted on 28 Mar 2014
chris.lockyer781
396 Stat enthusiast
