Data on incidents that come to the attention of police are captured and forwarded to the CCJS according to a nationally approved set of common scoring rules and definitions.  The reader should note however, that many factors could influence official crime statistics.  These include:  reporting by the public to the police; reporting by police to the CCJS; and the impact of new intiative such as changes in legislation, policies or enforcement polices.

Year-over-year comparisons should be made with caution as many non-criminally related factors can affect data from one year to another (openings, closures or reorganizations of police departments, redistribution of municipalities serviced among different police departments, significant population increases etc.).

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey produces a continuous historical record of crime and traffic statistics reported by every police agency in Canada since 1962.  In 1988, a new version of the survey was created, UCR2, and is since referred to as the "incident-based" survey, in which microdata on characteristics of incidents, victims and accused are captured.  For more information please click here.

Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada.  Users are forbidden to copy the data and redisseminate them, in an original or modified form, for commercial purposes, without the expressed permission of Statistics Canada.  Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from Statistics Canada's Regional Offices, it's Web site at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/  and it's toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.

The "adult" age group includes those age 18 and over, and the "youth" age group includes offenders under 18. Although almost all youth offenders are aged 12-17, there may be a small number of offenders under 12 years of age included in the data.

Figures may not add to total due to random rounding.

Most Serious Offence (MSO)

Classifies an incident according to the most serious offence committed during the incident. In categorizing incidents, violent offences always take precedence over non-violent offences. Offences are then sorted according to maximum sentence under the Criminal Code of Canada.

Persons Charged

Includes the number of people charged (not the number of charges laid) or recommended for charges by the police. A person who is simultaneously charged with more than one offence is counted according to the most serious incident, even if the offences occurred in more than one incident. In addition, persons may be counted more than once throughout the year; that is, individuals are counted on each occasion they are charged by the police. Note: In some cases a criminal incident may be solved months or even years after it was reported to the police. For this reason it is possible for the number of cases cleared to be different than the total reported actual incidents (Statistics Canada, 2004)

Incident

The basis for counting reported crime in the UCR Survey. An incident is a set of connected events that usually make up a reported occurrence. The reported incident is used in conjunction with Most Serious Offence (MSO).

Cleared by Charge

When a police investigation leads to the identification of a suspect, an “information” is laid against that person (i.e., the person is charged).

Youth

Refer to those aged 12-17 (inclusive).

Actual Incidents

When a crime is reported to the police, the incident is recorded as a “reported” incident. Police then conduct a preliminary investigation to determine the validity. Occasionally crimes reported to the police prove to be unfounded. Unfounded incidents are subtracted from the number of incidents to produce the number of “actual incidents.”

Cleared Otherwise

In some cases police cannot lay an information even if they have identified a suspect and have enough to support the laying of an information. Examples include diplomatic immunity, instances when then the complainant declines to proceed with charges, or cases when the accused dies.

Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada

The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCSJ), in cooperation with the policing community, collects police reported crime statistics through the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR). The UCR was developed to measure the incidence of crime in Canadian society and its characteristics. It can represent both the survey instrument itself or the aggregate form of the UCR data.

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