Community Safety and Crime

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Release date: October 20, 2020

Key Messages:

Perceptions of crime and safety during the pandemic – feelings of being unsafe are more common among certain groups - visible minority participants, young people, women

Percent perceiving harassment sometimes or often

Description - Percent perceiving harassment sometimes or often

% perceiving harassment sometimes or often

  • Black 26%
  • Korean 26%
  • Chinese 25%
  • Filipino 22%
  • Not a visible minority 10%

Source: Statistics Canada, Crowdsourcing on perceptions of safety, May 12-25, 2020.

Perceptions of crime and safety during the pandemic – greater impact experienced by Indigenous participants

Percentage reporting feeling crime in neighbourhood has increased since the start of the pandemic, May 12 to 25, 2020

Description - Percentage reporting feeling crime in neighbourhood has increased since the start of the pandemic, May 12 to 25, 2020
Data table for Chart 2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2 Indigenous, Non-Indigenous, All, Women and Men, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Indigenous Non-Indigenous
All Women Men All Women Men
percent
Percentage reporting some level of concern about the impact of COVID-19 on violence in the home 11 13 9 5 5 4
Source: The impacts of COVID-19 - Mental Health.

Safety and well-being during the pandemic

Police interventions changed during COVID-19: calls for service increased, while police-reported crime declined

Police calls for service increased, while police-reported crime declined
  Toronto, Ontario, municipal (35304) Regina, Saskatchewan, municipal (47603) Vancouver, British Columbia, municipal (59023)
Actual incidents Actual incidents Actual incidents
Violations and calls for service March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020
Number
Total assaults (levels 1, 2, 3) 1,220 889 1,110 1,202 161 127 156 164 414 365 424 398
Total breaking and entering 718 616 489 482 125 125 159 112 523 559 368 309
Calls for service, domestic disturbances / disputes 1,881 1,649 1,879 1,859 371 386 427 445 514 502 497 506
Source: Statistics Canada, table 35-10-0169-01 Selected police-reported crime and calls for service during the COVID-19 pandemic, March 2020 to June 2020.

Changing landscape of vulnerability: Impacts on Canadian victim services

Perceived changes in the number of victims served since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020

Description - Perceived changes in the number of victims served since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020
Data table for Chart 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1. The information is grouped by Perceived change by type of client (appearing as row headers), Increased, Stayed the same and Decreased, calculated using percent of respondents units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Perceived change by type of client Increased Stayed the same Decreased
percent of respondents
Change in total victims of crime served 31 50 19
Change in domestic violence victims served 54 29 17

Changing landscape of vulnerability – women, children and seniors are vulnerable to family violence during quarantine and social isolation

Impacts of COVID-19 on concerns about violence in the home by age, sex, Canada, April 2020

Description - Impacts of COVID-19 on concerns about violence in the home by age, sex, Canada, April 2020

Changing landscape of vulnerability– Financial stress and victimization during quarantine and social isolation can increase the risk of family violence

Relationship between ability to meet financial obligations and violence in the home, April 2020

Description - Relationship between ability to meet financial obligations and violence in the home, April 2020
Relationship between ability to meet financial obligations and violence in the home
  Total Women Men
Major impact on financial obligations 11 12 10
Moderate, minor, no impact on family finances  7 8 6
Source: Statistics Canada crowdsourcing, Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians, 2020.

Impact of COVID-19 on the administration of justice: court delays and access to justice

Criminal court activity

Legal problems faced by Canadians

Impact of COVID-19 on the administration of justice: custodial populations in adult correctional centres in Canada dropped by 16%, an unprecedented decrease

Total adult custodial population by year (2019 and 2020) and month (February, March and April)

Description - Total adult custodial population by year (2019 and 2020) and month (February, March and April)
Total adult custodial population by year (2019 and 2020) and month (February, March and April
  2019 2020
Feburary 37,967 37,976
March 38, 314 36,960
April 38, 484 31,901
Source(s): Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Adult Corrections Key Indicator Report, Daily article

Looking forward - Tracking the future of crime and community safety in Canada

Data collection and analysis activities are planned to address key research questions:

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