A Statistical Snapshot of Youth at Risk and Youth Offending in Canada

A Statistical Snapshot of Youth at Risk and Youth Offending in Canada

Juvenile delinquency is a complex, multi-faceted issue. In order to devise effective prevention and intervention strategies for youth at risk, it is important to understand the context in which this behaviour occurs.

Of the population of youth in Canada, the majority of them will experience normal transitions to adulthood. However, some will be exposed to adverse factors that negatively impact their psycho-social development, and which may even contribute to offending behaviour. This, in turn, may lead to their involvement with the criminal justice system.

Part I: Youth in Canada

Children and youth under the age of 20 represent almost one in four people (23%) in the Canadian population. As of July 1, 2010, there were approximately:

In 2006, 48% of Aboriginal people were less than 25 years old, compared to 31% for non-AboriginalsFootnote 2.

Canada's population of young Aboriginals is one of the fastest growing demographics. By 2026, the number of 15–19 year old Aboriginal youth is projected to be 37% larger than in 2001, compared to 6% for the same age group in the general populationFootnote 3.

Family structure

In 2006, approximately 16% of Canadian families were headed by a single parentFootnote 4.

Compared with their non-Aboriginal peers, Aboriginal children aged 14 and under were more likely to live with:

About 28% of Inuit children, 17% of First Nations children living off reserve, and 11% of Métis children were living in families with 4 or more children. This is compared to 8% of non-Aboriginal children in CanadaFootnote 6.

Aboriginal children are more likely to be raised by younger parents than non-Aboriginal children. Among children under six years old, 26% of Inuit children, 27% of First Nations children living off reserve and 22% of Métis children had mothers between the ages of 15 to 24; this is compared to 8% of non-Aboriginal childrenFootnote 7.

Income

In 2006, census data showed that 11.4% of the Canadian population (3,484,625 individuals) lived in after-tax low-income situations. Of these, 865,795 (13%) were youth 17 years of age and underFootnote 8.

Low-income rates are highest among children and young people. 15% of all children aged 5 and under were part of a low-income family. The rate dropped to 13% for children aged 6 to 14 and to 11% for teens aged 15 to 17Footnote 9.

In 2009, 9.5% (634,000) of all children aged 18 and under lived in low-income families in Canada. This proportion has decreased by approximately half since peaking in 1996 at a rate of 18%Footnote 10. Among the provincesFootnote 11, the lowest child poverty rate was in Prince Edward Island (6.4%) and highest in British Columbia (12.0%)Footnote 12.

196,000 (31%) of children in poverty lived in a lone-parent family headed by a woman. Approximately 22% of children living with a single mother were in low income in 2009, compared with 56% in 1996Footnote 13.

Compared to non-Aboriginal children (18%), a greater proportion of young Aboriginal children under the age of 6 were living in low-income economic familiesFootnote 14:

The differences are particularly pronounced in urban areas. Over half (57%) of First Nations children in census metropolitan areas (CMAs) were living in low-income economic families, as were 45% of Inuit children and 42% of Métis children. This is compared to 21% of non-Aboriginal children in CMAs Footnote 16, Footnote 17.

Employment

In 2009, the unemployment rate was 15% for youth aged 15 to 24, the highest among all age groups (7% for adults aged 25 to 54 and 55 to 64, and 4% for people aged 65 and over)Footnote 18.

Unemployment rates of Aboriginal youth were at least twice as high as non-Aboriginal youth in the western provinces in 2006Footnote 19.

Mental Health

According to the Canadian Mental Health AssociationFootnote 20:

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Each year in Canada, between 123 and 740 babies are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and an estimated 1,000 babies are born with Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) (based on 370,000 births per year)Footnote 22.

Estimates of the prevalence of FAS/FAE among Aboriginal people vary widely, from .52 to 190 cases per 1,000 live births, depending on the community Footnote 23, Footnote 24.

Victimization

In 2008, there were 1,111 victims of violent crime reported to the police per 100,000 children and youth in Canada. The rates of violent victimization were highest among youth aged 15 to 17Footnote 25.

For children under the age of 6, the majority of police-reported physical assaults were committed by someone known to the victim, with 6 in 10 assaults being perpetrated by a family member. Older children (9 to 17 years) were most likely to be assaulted by an acquaintance or a strangerFootnote 26.

The rate of violent victimization reported by 15- to 24-year-olds in the 2009 General Social Survey (284 per 1,000 population 15 years and older) was almost 15 times higher than the rate for individuals 65 years or older (19 per 1,000)Footnote 27.

In the 15 to 24 age group, 425 of every 1,000 Aboriginal people were victims of violent incidents (excluding spousal violence); the corresponding rate for non-Aboriginal people was 268 per 1,000Footnote 28.

Families-at-risk

As of March 31, 2004, there were about 72,000Footnote 29 children in care (i.e., cases where there has been a transfer of custody and/or guardianship) in CanadaFootnote 30.

The Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy interviewed 250 youths in open custody and open detention facilities in Ontario. Of the 240 youths who responded to the question about previous child welfare history, 48% said that they had a previous history of child welfareFootnote 31.

In Ontario, a study of 378 adjudicated male youth suggested that child welfare/alternative care involvement was associated with high-rate, chronic offendingFootnote 32.

The International Youth Survey, which was administered to a sample of Toronto students (more than 3,200 youths in grades 7 to 9) in 2006, found that the prevalence of delinquent behaviour was:

In 2007, an estimated 357,604 Canadian children were affected by paternal incarceration, or 4.6% of the total Canadian population aged 19 and younger. Children of federally sentenced fathers are two to four times more likely to be in conflict with the law than Canadian children in generalFootnote 34.

Substance Use

In 2010, Health Canada administered the Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey to 13,615 Canadians 15 years of age and olderFootnote 35. Of the 3,989 youths aged 15 to 24 who responded:

The International Youth Survey found that delinquent behaviour was significantly more prevalent among youth who:

School Dropout Rates

In 2009–2010, 10% of young men and 7% of young women were dropouts (defined as 20- to 24-year-olds without a high school diploma and not in school)Footnote 38.

Young Aboriginal people were more likely to drop out than non-Aboriginal people, with the 2007 to 2010 dropout rates among off-reserve First Nations, Métis and Inuit at 23%, compared with 9% for non-Aboriginal peopleFootnote 39.

Only 44% of children in foster care graduate from high school compared to 81% of their peersFootnote 40.

Part II: Youth Offending

How Many Youths Commit Crimes?

The issue of youth crime is a concern for many communities across Canada. However, there is no single source of information to determine the number of youths who commit crimes in Canada. Estimates can be obtained using various methods (e.g., self-reports, official records of convictions, charges, victimization surveys), each providing a slightly different picture of the phenomenon.

One way to measure levels of delinquency is through self-reported crimes. The International Youth SurveyFootnote 41 found that:

37% of youth reported having engaged in one or more delinquent behaviours in their lifetime, either acts of violence, acts against property or the sale of drugs.

Another way to measure delinquent behaviour is through the use of the use of police-reported data. Every year, Statistics Canada conducts the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey, which has collected data on all criminal incidents known to, and substantiated by, Canadian police services since 1962.

In 2010, the rate of those accused of a Criminal Code offence peaked at 18 years of age and generally decreased with increasing ageFootnote 43.

Persons accused of crimes, by age, Canada, 2010Footnote 44

Figure 1

Image Description

The above vertical bar graph illustrates the rate of persons accused of crimes in Canada in the year 2010 between the ages of 12 and 55.

The Y axis represents the rate of persons accused per 100,000 population and increases from 0 to 16,000 in increments of 2,000.

On the X axis, from left to right are the ages of the accused persons from 12 to 55 years in increments of 1 year.

Results:

The rate of persons accused increases sharply from age 12 to age 18 where it peaks. The rate then decreases throughout the twenties, levelling off in the thirties and then decreases continuously to age 55.

Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Survey.

In 2010, nearly 153,000 youths were accused of committing a crime:

This represents approximately 6% of the Canadian youth populationFootnote 46 aged 12–17 years of age.

In 2009, females accounted for about one-quarter of youth accused by police of having committed a Criminal Code offence. Overall, the rate of offending for female youth is still less than half of that of male youth (4,011 per 100,000 vs. 9,700 per 100,000)Footnote 47.

Youth crime continues to represent a small proportion of overall crimes. In 2010, of the 494,621 persons charged for Criminal Code violations (excluding traffic), 64,800 (13.1%) were youthsFootnote 48.

Over the past decade, there have been decreases in the:

Police-reported youth crime rates, Canada, 2000 to 2010Footnote 50

Figure 2

Image Description

The above line graph illustrates the rate of police-reported youth crime in Canada between the year 2000 and 2010.

The Y axis represents the police-reported youth crime rate (per 100,000 population) and increases from 0 to 8,000 in increments of 1,000.

On the X axis, from left to right are the years 2000 to 2010 in increments of 1 year.

Results:

The top line represents the total police-reported youth crime rate between 2000 and 2010. The total police-reported youth crime rate shows a downward trend between the year 2000 (rate = 6,914) and the year 2010 (rate = 6,147), with notable peaks in the year 2001 (rate of approximately 7,200) and again in 2003 (rate of approximately 7,400).

The middle line represents the police-reported youth property crime rate between 2000 and 2010. The police-reported youth property crime rate shows a slight downward trend between 2000 (rate = 3,909) and 2010 (rate = 3,155) with a notable peak in the year 2003 (rate is approximately 4,100).

The bottom line represents the total police-reported youth violent crime rate between 2000 and 2010. The police-reported youth violent crime rate decreases slightly between the year 2000 (rate = 1,944) and the year 2010 (rate = 1,838) with no notable peaks during that period.

The severity of youth crime, as measured by the youth Crime Severity Index (CSI)Footnote 51, has also declined over the past 10 years, from 103.5 in 2000 to 90.5 in 2010.

A similar trend is evident for the youth non-violent CSI, which fell from 114.4 in 2000 to fell to 88.0 in 2010.

Conversely, over the same period, there was a slight increase (5%) in the severity of youth violent crime, from 89.3 in 2000 to 93.7 in 2010.

Police-reported youth crime severity indices, Canada, 2000 to 2010Footnote 52

Figure 3

Image Description

The above line graph illustrates the Crime Severity Indices of police-reported youth crime in Canada between the year 2000 and 2010.

The Y axis represents the Crime Severity Index (CSI) of police-reported youth crime and increases from 70.0 to 130.0 in increments of 10.0.

On the X axis, from left to right are the years 2000 to 2010 in increments of 1 year.

Results:

The top line represents the CSI of youth non-violent crime between 2000 and 2010. The CSI of youth non-violent crime shows a significant downward trend between the year 2000 (CSI = 104.0) and the year 2010 (CSI = 87.0), with notable peaks in the year 2001 (CSI of approximately 117.0) and again in 2003 (CSI of approximately 116.0).

The middle line represents the Crime Severity Index (CSI) of all police-reported youth crime between 2000 and 2010. The CSI of all police-reported youth crime shows a slight downward trend between 2000 (CSI = 104.0) and 2010 (CSI = 90.0) with notable peaks in the year 2001 (CSI of approximately 106.0) and again in 2003 (CSI of approximately 107.0).

The bottom line represents the Crime Severity Index of police-reported youth violent crime between 2000 and 2010. The CSI of police-reported youth violent crime shows a slight increase between the year 2000 (CSI = 89.0) and the year 2010 (CSI = 94.0) with notable peaks in the year 2001 (CSI is approximately 91.0), 2003 (CSI is approximately 94.0), 2007 (CSI is approximately 103.0) and 2009 (CSI is approximately 98.0).

Therefore, while the CSI of youth non-violent crime and youth crime overall both decrease between 2000 and 2010, the CSI of youth violent crime increases during that period.

Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Survey.

Note: Refers to the number of youths aged 12 to 17 who were either charged (or recommended for charging) by police or diverted from the formal criminal justice system through the use of warnings, cautions, referrals to community programs, etc. Data on the youth crime severity indexes are available beginning in 1998.

Note: In the calculation of the police-reported CSI, each offence is assigned a weight, derived from sentences handed down by criminal courts. The more serious the average sentence, the higher the weight for that offence. As a result, more serious offences have a greater impact on changes in the Index. Indices have been standardized to a base year of 2006, which is equal to 100.

Youth CSIs are highest in the North (Nunavut: 449.3, Northwest Territories: 427.0 and Yukon: 222.7), and the Prairie provinces of Saskatchewan (235.2) and Manitoba (171.3). The national average is 90.5. Similar geographic crime trends were observed in youth violent and non-violent CSIs.

Police-reported youth Crime Severity Index, by province and territory, 2010Footnote 53

Figure 4

Image Description

The above horizontal bar graph illustrates the Crime Severity Indices of police-reported youth crime in each Canadian province/territory in the year 2010.

The Y axis represents the Canadian province/territory.

On the X axis, from left to right are the values that represent the Crime Severity Index in the province/territory from 0 to 500 in increments of 50.

Results:

The highest CSI of police-reported youth crime occurs in Nunavut (CSI = 450) followed by Northwest Territories (CSI = 425), Saskatchewan (CSI = 235), Yukon (CSI = 250) and Manitoba (CSI = 170). With a CSI of approximately 120, Nova Scotia, along with Alberta (CSI = 100), and New Brunswick (CSI = 95) all have higher ratings than the Canadian National Average of 90. Ontario (CSI = 80), Newfoundland/Labrador (CSI = 75), British Columbia (CSI = 70), Prince Edward Island (CSI = 65), and Quebec (CSI = 65) all have CSI values lower than the national average.

Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Survey.

Note: Refers to the number of youths aged 12 to 17 who were either charged (or recommended for charging) by police or diverted from the formal criminal justice system through the use of warnings, cautions, referrals to community programs, etc. Data on the youth crime severity indexes are available beginning in 1998.

Note: In the calculation of the police-reported CSI, each offence is assigned a weight, derived from sentences handed down by criminal courts. The more serious the average sentence, the higher the weight for that offence. As a result, more serious offences have a greater impact on changes in the Index. Indices have been standardized to a base year of 2006, which is equal to 100.

Youth crime on reserves Footnote 54, Footnote 55

In 2004, 9,815 youths aged 12 to 17 were accused (charged or otherwise) of a criminal offence on a reserve. This rate (24,391 per 100,000) was more than three times higher than the average for the rest of Canada (7,023).

Approximately 41.3% of youth crimes committed on reserves were classified as other Criminal Code offences category. This proportion is similar is for crimes committed outside reserves (37.1%).

Property crime offences constituted one-third of on-reserve youth crime and 41.9% of youth crime outside reserves in 2004.

In 2004, about one-quarter of on-reserve youth offences were violent crimes, compared with one-fifth elsewhere in Canada. The vast majority of violent offences, both on and outside of reserves were assaults.

Young offenders were accused of committing homicides on reserves at about 11 times the rate of young people so accused elsewhere in Canada, and were seven times more likely to be accused of break and enter and disturbing the peace.

The higher rates of crime committed on reserves speaks to the need to better understand the causes and characteristics of Aboriginal youth offending.

What are the Characteristics of Crime Committed by Youth?

In general, male and female youth accused of criminal behaviour tend to commit similar types of crimesFootnote 56

Most common offences for youth accused of a Criminal Code offence in 2009
Females Males
1. theft under $5,000 1. theft under $5,000
2. common assault (level 1) 2. mischief
3. administration of justice violationsFootnote 57 3. drug offences
4. mischief 4. administration of justice violations
5. other Criminal Code violations 5. common assault (level 1)

About 6 in 10 victims of a youth crime are children or youth under the age of 18. Individuals within the 18–24, 25–34 and 35–44 age ranges each make up about one-tenth of youth crime victims, with victims aged 45 and over constituting the remaining tenthFootnote 58.

In 2008, the most common locations for youth crime were:

The peak times for youth crime were:

In 2006, around 5% of all Criminal Code violations committed by youth involved a weapon, most commonly a knifeFootnote 61.

Who are the Youth Appearing Before the Courts?Footnote 62

In 2008–2009, youth courts in Canada processed 58,379 cases involving 191,054 charges.

The most common cases processed were crimes against property (38%) and crimes against the person (26%).

Over three-quarters (76%) of the total youth court caseload involved the following 10 offences:

Figure 5

Image Description

The above horizontal bar graph illustrates the most common types of offences seen in youth court. The 10 offences represented make up 76% of the total cases dealt with in youth court.

The Y axis represents the type of offense.

On the X axis, from left to right is the percentage of cases seen in youth court that involve a certain type of offense. The values range from 0.0 to 16.0 increasing in increments of 2.0.

Results:

The most common offense dealt with in youth court is theft (14.0% of cases), followed by YCJA offences (which include inducing a young person, failure to comply with a sentence or disposition, publishing the identity of offenders, victims or witnesses and failure to comply with a designated temporary place of detention (s.136 -139 YCJA) (10.0%), break and enter (8.0%), common assault (8.0%), mischief (7.5%), failure to comply with order (7.0%), and major assault (6.5%). Possession of stolen property (5.5%), and drug possession (5.0%) are less common but still occur more often than robbery (4.8%) which is the least common offense seen in youth court.

Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Youth Court Survey.

Note: The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) category includes inducing a young person, failure to comply with a sentence or disposition, publishing the identity of offenders, victims or witnesses and failure to comply with a designated temporary place of detention (s.136 -139 YCJA).

Youth who appear in court tend to be male and older.

Gender of youth who appear in court
Gender Total (%)
Male accused 72%
Female accused 21%
Unknown sex 7%

Age of youth who appear in court
Age (years) Total (%)
16–17 57%
12–15 41%

How are Youth Sentenced?

Youth found guilty can receive more than one sentence. Of the 34,434 guilty cases in 2008–2009, 60.3% included a sentence of probation, either alone or in combination with another (e.g., fines, community service)Footnote 63.

In 2008–2009, 15.4% (5,307) of all guilty cases resulted in a custodial sentence, with a median sentence length of 36 daysFootnote 64.

Aboriginal youth represented only 6% of all youth in the 2006 general population, yet also represented, in 2008–2009:

Footnotes

  1. 1

    Statistics Canada. 2010. "Annual demographic estimates: Canada, provinces and territories" (Catalogue no. 91-215-X). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  2. 2

    Statistics Canada. 2008. "Aboriginal Peoples in Canada in 2006: Inuit, Métis and First Nations, 2006 Census." Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  3. 3

    Hull, J. 2008. Hope or Heartbreak: Aboriginal Youth and Canada's Future: Aboriginal youth in the Canadian labour market." Horizons, 10(1), 40-44.

  4. 4

    Statistics Canada. 2007. "Income in Canada". Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  5. 5

    Statistics Canada. 2008. "Aboriginal Peoples in Canada in 2006: Inuit, Métis and First Nations, 2006 Census." Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  6. 6

    Statistics Canada. 2008. "Aboriginal Children's Survey: Family, community and child care." Ottawa, ON: Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada.

  7. 7

    Ibid.

  8. 8

    Statistics Canada. 2008. Income and earnings, 2006 Census. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/rt-td/inc-rev-eng.cfm (accessed March 3, 2011).

  9. 9

    Statistics Canada. 2008. "Aboriginal Children's Survey: Family, community and child care." Ottawa, ON: Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada.

  10. 10

    Statistics Canada. 2011. Income in Canada. (Catalog 75-202-X), Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  11. 11

    Annual income data (as measured by the Survey of Consumer Finances and the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics) are not collected for the territories.

  12. 12

    Statistics Canada. 2011. CANSIM table 202-802: Persons in low income families. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  13. 13

    Statistics Canada. 2011. Income in Canada. (Catalog 75-202-X), Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  14. 14

    An economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law or adoption. A couple may be of opposite or same sex. For 2006, foster children are included.

  15. 15

    Statistics Canada. 2008. "Aboriginal Children's Survey: Family, community and child care." Ottawa, ON: Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada.

  16. 16

    Economic families in the Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories and Nunavut and on Indian reserves were excluded as the low income cut-offs are based on certain expenditure-income patterns which are not available from survey data for the entire population.

  17. 17

    Statistics Canada. 2008. "Aboriginal Children's Survey: Family, community and child care." Ottawa, ON: Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada.

  18. 18

    Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. 2009. Work — Unemployment rate. Retrieved from http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng.jsp?iid=16 (accessed March 3, 2011).

  19. 19

    Statistics Canada. July, 2009. Aboriginal Data at Statistics Canada. Prepared for National Association of Friendship Centres.

  20. 20

    Canadian Mental Health Association. n.d. "Fast facts about mental illness in youth." Retrieved from http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=6-20-23-44 (accessed March 3, 2011).

  21. 21

    Statistics Canada. 2011. Suicides and suicide rate, by sex and by age group. Retrieved from http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/hlth66d-eng.htm (accessed March 3, 2011).

  22. 22

    Health Canada. 1997. "It takes a community - Framework for the First Nations and Inuit Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects Initiative / A resource manual for community-based prevention of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects." Ottawa, ON: Health Canada.

  23. 23

    Chudley, A.E., Conry, J., Cook, J.L., Loock, C., Rosales, T., & LeBlanc, N. 2005. "Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: Canadian guidelines for diagnosis." Canadian Medical Association Journal, 172(5), S1-S21.

  24. 24

    Pacey, M. 2009. "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome & Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder among Aboriginal Peoples: A review of prevalence." Prince George, BC: National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.

  25. 25

    Ogrodnik, L. 2010. "Child and youth victims of police-reported violent crime — 2008 (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Profile Series)". Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  26. 26

    Ibid.

  27. 27

    Perreault, S., & Brennan, S. 2010. "Criminal victimization in Canada — 2009," Juristat, 30(2). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  28. 28

    Perreault, S. 2011. "Violent victimization of Aboriginal people in the Canadian provinces — 2009 (Juristat Article)." Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  29. 29

    This statistic excludes data from Prince Edward Island, as no such information was available. In addition, there are extensive variations in the types of data collected and the manner in which they are reported across the provinces and territories. Actual client data may represent the number of families or children. As such, this statistic should be interpreted with caution.

  30. 30

    F/P/T Directors of Child Welfare Committee. 2004. "Child & family services statistical report: 2000–2001 to 2003–2004." Ottawa, ON: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

  31. 31

    Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy. 2007. "Open detention and open custody in Ontario." Toronto, ON: OCFSA.

  32. 32

    Day, D.M., Nielsen, J.D., Ward, A.K., Rosenthal, J.S., Sun, Y., Bevc,I., & T. Duschene. 2011. "Criminal trajectories of two sub-samples of adjudicated Ontario youths." Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, National Crime Prevention Centre.

  33. 33

    Savoie, J. 2007. "Youth self-reported delinquency, Toronto — 2006," Juristat 27(6). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  34. 34

    Withers, L. & Folsom, J. 2008. Incarcerated fathers: A descriptive analysis (Research Report No. R-186 2008). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

  35. 35

    Health Canada. 2007. "Canadian alcohol and drug use monitoring survey: Summary of results for 2010. Retrieved from www.hc-sc.gc.ca (accessed July 19, 2011).

  36. 36

    At least one of 8 harms to: physical health; friendships and social life; financial position; home life or marriage; work, studies, or employment opportunities; legal problems; difficulty learning; housing problems.

  37. 37

    Savoie, J. 2007. "Youth self-reported delinquency, Toronto — 2006," Juristat 27(6). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  38. 38

    Statistics Canada. 2011. "Trends in dropout rates and the labour market outcomes of young dropouts." Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004-x/2010004/article/11339-eng.htm (accessed March 3, 2011).

  39. 39

    Ibid.

  40. 40

    Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies, (2011). "Child Welfare Report 2011". Retrieved from http://www.oacasgroups.org/uploads/cwr/11childwelfarereporteng.pdf (PDF version , 12.2MB) (accessed June 23, 2011).

  41. 41

    Savoie, J. 2007. "Youth self-reported delinquency, Toronto — 2006," Juristat 27(6). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  42. 42

    Violent behaviour is defined as acts of robbery, weapon possession, threatening, group fighting, intentional injury using a weapon, or cyberbullying intended to harass or frighten others.

  43. 43

    Brennan, S., & Dauvergne, M. 2011. Police reported crime statistics – 2010." Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  44. 44

    Ibid.

  45. 45

    Ibid.

  46. 46

    Estimated at 2,483,937 as of July 1, 2010 (CANSIM table 051-0001).

  47. 47

    Hotton Mahony, T. 2011. "Women and the criminal justice system." In: Women in Canada: A gender-based statistical report (6th edition, Catalogue no. 89-503-X). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  48. 48

    Statistics Canada. 2011. Personal correspondence.

  49. 49

    The youth crime rate is a measure of the volume of youth aged 12 to 17 accused of a Criminal Code offence.

  50. 50

    Brennan, S., & Dauvergne, M. 2011. "Police reported crime statistics – 2010." Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  51. 51

    In the calculation of the police-reported CSI, each offence is assigned a weight, derived from sentences handed down by criminal courts. The more serious the average sentence, the higher the weight for that offence. As a result, more serious offences have a greater impact on changes in the Index.

  52. 52

    Brennan, S., & Dauvergne, M. 2011. "Police reported crime statistics – 2010." Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  53. 53

    Ibid.

  54. 54

    The term 'on reserve' refers strictly to the location of the offences committed and not to the residency of the victim or the perpetrator.

  55. 55

    Brzozowski, J-A., Taylor-Butts, A., & Johnson, S. 2006. "Victimization and offending among the Aboriginal population in Canada," Juristat 26(3). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  56. 56

    Hotton Mahony, T. 2011. "Women and the criminal justice system." In: Women in Canada: A gender-based statistical report (6th edition, Catalogue no. 89-503-X). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  57. 57

    Some examples of administration of justice violations are: failure to appear in court and breach of probation.

  58. 58

    Taylor-Butts, A. 2010. "Where and when youth commit police-reported crimes — 2008," Juristat 30(2). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

  59. 59

    Ibid.

  60. 60

    Ibid.

  61. 61

    Statistics Canada. 2008. "Youth crime — 2006." The Daily.

  62. 62

    Milligan. S. 2010. "Youth court statistics — 2008/2009," Juristat 30(2). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada

  63. 63

    Ibid.

  64. 64

    Ibid.

  65. 65

    Calverley, D., Cotter, A., & Halla, E. 2010. "Youth custody and community services in Canada — 2008/2009," Juristat 30(1). Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.

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