Canada's crime rate drops for 3rd straight year: StatsCan

by CBC — July 17, 2008

Canada's national crime rate declined for the third straight year in 2007, according to Statistics Canada, which attributed the drop largely to a decrease in counterfeiting and property offences such as break-ins and vehicle thefts.

StatsCan data released Thursday shows a seven per cent drop in the national crime rate, which the agency said also stems from fewer serious violent offences like homicides, attempted murders, sexual assaults and robberies.

The overall crime rate has been on a general rate of decline since peaking in 1991, according to StatsCan data. In 2007, police reported 594 homicides, down slightly from 606 in 2006, following a long-term downward trend that began in the mid-1970s.

Almost 30,000 robberies were reported last year, a five per cent decline from 2006, while the number of robberies committed with a firearm declined 12 per cent from the previous year to its lowest point in more than 30 years, StatsCan said.

Serious assaults, including those with a weapon, basically stayed unchanged in 2007 after rising in each of the previous seven years.

Crime rates were down in all provinces and territories, except Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon — although crime rates remained highest in the western provinces.

Among the provinces, Saskatchewan once again reported the highest overall crime rate as well as the highest violent crime rate.

The overall crime rate among youth aged 12 to 17 tapered off slightly in 2007 after rising the year before as non-violent offences fell and violent crime rates remained stable.

Source:CBC top stories