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  • Following three consecutive annual increases, the total number of cases completed in adult criminal courts remained relatively steady in 2010/2011. There were nearly 403,000 cases, involving about 1.2 million Criminal Code and other federal statute offences.
  • Some provinces, most notably, British Columbia (-7%), Alberta (-6%) and Quebec (-6%) reported drops in the number of completed cases. These declines, however, were offset by increases elsewhere in the country, including Saskatchewan (+5%) and Ontario (+2%).
  • The most common types of adult court cases in 2010/2011 involved impaired driving and theft. Among violent crime cases, those involving common assault were most frequent.
  • There were about 3,300 fewer violent crime cases including attempted murder, robbery, sexual assault, major assault, common assault and uttering threats. Among property crime cases, those involving theft remained stable while cases involving fraud and break and enter declined.
  • Cases involving administration of justice offences, such as failure to comply and breach of probation, accounted for about 1 in 5 adult criminal court cases. Although the number of such cases remained stable in 2010/2011, these types of cases have been gradually rising over the past decade, up 35% since 2000/2001.
  • Cases in adult criminal court tend to involve a disproportionate number of young adults. While those aged 18 to 24 years accounted for 30% of accused persons in adult criminal court, this same age group represented 12% of the adult population.
  • Consistent with previous years, about two-thirds (64%) of adult criminal court cases in 2010/2011 resulted in a finding of guilt. The proportion of guilty findings was highest in Prince Edward Island (80%) and lowest in Ontario (56%).
  • Probation was the most common type of sentence imposed in adult criminal courts, at 45% of all guilty cases. In nearly all provinces and territories, the median length of probation in 2010/2011 was 365 days.
  • As has generally been the case for the past decade, one-third (33%) of guilty adult criminal court cases resulted in a sentence to custody in 2010/2011. Sentences to custody were most often imposed by courts in Prince Edward Island (63%) and least often in Nunavut (23%), Nova Scotia (25%) and New Brunswick (26%).
  • The use of custodial sentences varied considerably depending on the type of case. For example, in Prince Edward Island, the vast majority (93%) of impaired driving cases resulted in a custodial sentence in 2010/2011, whereas courts in other provinces more typically imposed a fine for this offence.
  • The majority (86%) of all custodial sentences were for a term of six months or less. About 4% of guilty cases in 2010/2011 resulted in a sentence to federal custody of 2 years or more.
  • The median length of time taken to complete an adult criminal court case fell to 118 days, the second consecutive annual decline. As has been the case for the past decade, case completion time in 2010/2011 was shortest in Prince Edward Island, at 29 days.
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