Youth court statistics, 2010/2011
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Youth courts in Canada completed about 52,900 cases in 2010/2011, involving more than 178,000 charges. The caseload decreased for the second year in a row, down 7%.
The number of cases completed in youth court fell in every province except Manitoba, where it was up 3% from the previous year. The largest declines occurred in Nova Scotia (-15%) and Prince Edward Island (-13%).
Nearly three-quarters of cases completed in youth courts involved non-violent offences, mirroring crime trends in general. The most commonly completed cases involved theft (15%); Youth Criminal Justice Act offences, such as failure to comply with a sentence (11%); and breaking and entering (8%).
Some of the largest declines in the number of cases completed in 2010/2011 occurred among cases of fraud (-25%), mischief (-13%) and uttering threats (-12%). In contrast, numbers of completed cases increased for offences such as criminal harassment (+13%), breach of probation (+7%) and failure to appear (+3%).
About 60% of completed cases involved older youth, those aged 16 to 17. Males were involved in three-quarters of cases.
About 57% of youth court cases resulted in a finding of guilt in 2010/2011. Similar to previous years, probation was the most frequently ordered sentence for youth, ordered in 58% of all sentences imposed. The median length of probation sentences was 365 days.
The use of custodial sentences has decreased in youth courts. About 16% of those found guilty in youth court were sentenced to custody, down from 29% a decade earlier. Among the provinces, sentences to custody were most often imposed by courts in Ontario (21%) and least often in Manitoba (7%).
In 2010/2011, the median length of custodial sentences imposed by youth courts was 35 days. Median sentence lengths were longest for homicide (795 days) and attempted murder (575 days).
The time taken to complete youth court cases has increased over the past decade. In 2010/2011, the median elapsed time from first to last court appearance was 113 days, compared with the median of 70 days in 2000/2001.
Note to readers
The data presented in this article are drawn from the youth portion of the Integrated Criminal Court Survey. The individuals involved are people aged 12 to 17 years at the time of the offence. Youth court cases that involve more than one charge are represented by the most serious offence.
Available without charge in CANSIM: tables CANSIM table252-0064, CANSIM table252-0067, CANSIM table252-0070, CANSIM table252-0072 and CANSIM table252-0074.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number survey number3309.
The Juristat article "Youth court statistics in Canada, 2010/2011" (Catalogue number85-002-X, free) is now available. From the Key resource module of our website under Publications, choose All subjects, then Crime and justice, and Juristat.
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Statistics Canada's National Contact Centre (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 613-951-8116; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or the Media Hotline (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).
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