Violent crime in Canada stable, overall crime increased slightly
Canada’s violent crime rate remained virtually unchanged in 2023, according to police-reported data provided to Statistics Canada.
However, the volume and severity of police-reported crime—as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI)—increased by two per cent during that same period, something some experts attribute to changes in how crimes are reported.
An overview of the CSI also notes a significant increase in police-reported child abuse images, sometimes referred to as child pornography. Fifty-three incidents were reported in 2023, a 52 per cent increase over the previous year.
Statistics Canada prefaces the index, stating it’s “not intended to be used in isolation or as a universal indicator of an area’s overall safety” and is “best understood in a broad context.”
The John Howard Society notes that violent crime in Canada has been on a downward trajectory for more than 30 years.
Your job. Your mission. Your news.
With your support, the sector you're building gets the journalism it deserves, and you get a tax receipt.
