Women and theCriminal Justice System

Women and men have similaroverall risks of victimization

According to the 1999 GeneralSocial Survey (GSS)• approximately 25% of the female population reported

having been the victim of at least one crime in the 12 months preceding the survey.

• This proportion was slightly lower than the proportion of men (27%) who were victimized in the same time period.

• There was very little difference in the overall risk of personal victimization for women and men. In 1999, the rate of personal victimization was 189 per 1,000 women and 183 per 1,000 men. There were, however, greater variations among the individual offence types. For example, sexual assaults were more likely to be perpetrated against women (rates of 33 per 1,000 women and 8 per 1,000 men). Men, in contrast, reported higher rates of robbery (rates of 7 for women and 12 for men) and assault (rates of 70 for women and 92 for men) than did women. Rates of theft of personal property were not significantly different for the two sexes.

Women more likely to be victims

of sexual assault

Violent crime down but homicide rate up

• In total, about 300,000 violent crimes were reported to police in 2004, the majority of which were common assault. The violent crime rate fell 2%, continuing a general decline since 1992. The violent crime rate was 10% lower than a decade earlier, but 35% higher than 20 years ago.

• Canada's homicide rate rose 12% in 2004 after hitting a 36-year low the year before. Police reported 622 victims of homicide, 73 more than last year. Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec accounted for most of this increase. The rate of 1.9 homicides for every 100,000 population was 5% lower than it was 10 years earlier

Crime rates for selected offences

  2004 % change in rate

  Number Rate1 2003 to 2004 1994 to 2004

Homicide 622 2 12.3 -5.3

Attempted murder 717 2 0.5 -29.4

Assaults (levels 1, 2, 3) 233,774 732 -2.2 -4.5

Other assaults 12,873 40 1.8 -18.1

Sexual assaults (levels 1, 2, 3) 23,534 74 -0.8 -32.6

Other sexual offences 2,625 8 1.4 -37.6

Abduction 635 2 12.6 -48.9

Robbery 27,477 86 -4.2 -14.0

Violent crime: Total 302,257  946 -2.0 -9.7

• approximately 80% of the 4450 stalking victims in Canada in 1996 were women. Eighty-eight percent of the persons accused of stalking in these cases were male (Bunge and Levett 1998, 8).

• 51% of all Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of sexual or physical violence. Close to 60% of these women have survived more than one incident of violence. (Statistics Canada, 1993, "Violence Against Women Survey", The Daily, 18 November, p. 1, 3)

• 62% of the victims who reported being sexually assaulted in 1998 were under the age of 18. (Statistics Canada, Juristat, Vol. 19, No. 9)

• In 2000, women made up the vast majority of victims of sexual assault (86%) and other types of sexual offences (78%). (Statistics Canada, 2001, Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile, 2001)

• 80% of sexual assaults occur at home; 49% in broad daylight. (Sexual Assault

Care Centre, 1999, Myths and Facts About Sexual Assault),

• In cases reported to police, 80% of sexual assault survivors knew their abusers. About 10% were assaulted by a friend and 41% were assaulted by an acquaintance. 28% were assaulted by a family member, while the remaining 20% were assaulted by a stranger. (Statistics Canada, 2003, The Daily, 23 July)