Fact sheet
Prince Edward Island

Victims of police-reported violent crime in Prince Edward Island, 2016

There were 1,071 victims of violent crime and criminal traffic offences causing death or bodily harm reported by police in Prince Edward Island in 2016. This represented 720 victims per 100,000 population, the lowest rate among the provinces and territories (Table A).
Most (83%) victims of police-reported crime were adults aged 18 and older; 60% were aged 25 and older. Meanwhile, 13% of victims were youth aged 12 to 17 and 4% were children under age 12. When controlling for population, the rate of victimization was highest among youth aged 16 to 17 and young adults aged 18 to 24 (Table 3.1).
More than half (57%) of victims of police-reported crime in 2016 were victims of assault: 46% were victims of common assault (level 1) and 10% were victims of major assault (level 2 or 3). Assault victims accounted for more than half (59%) of adult victims of police-reported violent crime. In comparison, assault accounted for more than two-fifths (44%) of child and youth victims (Table 3.1). Rates of assault were highest among youth aged 16 to 17 and young adults aged 18 to 24.
Overall, 9% of police-reported victims were victims of sexual offences. However, these offences were much more prevalent among child and youth victims that came to the attention of police. Among child victims (under age 12), 23% were victims of sexual assault (all sexual assault level 1) and another 28% were victims of sexual violations against children.^Note For youth victims (aged 12 to 17), 16% were victims of sexual assault (all sexual assault level 1) and 12% were victims of sexual violations against children (Table 3.1). Among victims of all ages, rates of police-reported sexual assault were highest among youth aged 16 to 17, while sexual violations against children were highest among youth aged 12 to 15 years.
About one-third (34%) of police-reported victims in 2016 were victims of other violent offences including uttering threats (18%), indecent or harassing communications (8%) and criminal harassment (6%) (Table 3.1).
While just over half (54%) of police-reported victims were female, they represented a much larger proportion of victims of sexual offences (84%) and of some other violent offences such as indecent and harassing communications (72%) (Table 3.2).
Assault was the most common police-reported offence among both male (63%) and female (51%) victims in 2016. Meanwhile, 14% of female victims were victims of sexual offences (11% sexual assault—mostly level 1—and 3% sexual violations against children). In comparison, 3% of males were victims of sexual offences (Table 3.2).
Male and female victims of police-reported sexual offences differed notably by age. Overall, among female victims of all sexual offences, 57% were either children under the age of 12 (15%) or youth aged 12 to 17 (43%). Of all female child and youth victims, 45% were victims of sexual offences: 27% were sexual assault and 18% were sexual violations against children (Table 3.3).
Compared to females, a much larger proportion (81%) of male victims of police-reported sexual offences were either children (63%) or youth (19%). Despite this, sexual offences were still less common among young male children and youth, representing 17% of victims (compared to 45% for their female counterparts). Instead, assault was the most common (56%) offence for male child and youth victims (Table 3.3).

Victim services in Prince Edward Island

In Prince Edward Island (PEI), the Department of Justice and Public Safety Victim Services offers a system-based program that assists victims of crime throughout their involvement in the criminal justice system. Victim Services Workers are also designated under the PEI Victims of Family Violence Act to apply for Emergency Protection orders on behalf of victims. In addition to the offices of the Victim Services Program, services are also available to victims through specialized community-based programs such as PEI Family Violence Prevention Services and the PEI Rape and Sexual Assault Centre. In addition, the PEI Island Helpline provides 24 hour telephone support and crisis intervention.

The information provided below reflects data on victims referred to the provincial Victim Services Program only.^Note

In 2016, the Prince Edward Island Victim Services Program assisted 862 direct victims of crime and their families.^Note This includes 45 victims which were businesses.
Children and youth accounted for 12% of direct victims assisted by the program.
Almost three quarters (72%) of direct victims were female; 28% were male.
Of all victims who received services, 64% were victims of a violent crime.^Note Over one-third (39%) were victims of physical assault, and another 13% were victims of a sexual offence. Less than half (44%) of sexual offence victims were under age 18.^Note One-third (36%) of victims served were victims of a non-violent offence such as theft or break and enter. Another 7 victims were victims of a traffic offence.
In 2016, Prince Edward Island Victim Services assisted with the preparation and filing of 124 Victim Impact Statements to the Court.

Note: Percentages have been calculated excluding unknowns. Percentages may not add up to totals due to rounding. Not all percentages presented in the text are provided in the tables. No tables are provided for the Canadian Victim Services Indicators (CVSI) data.

Detailed data tables

Table 3.1
Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm, by type of offence and age group of victim, Prince Edward Island, 2016
Table summary
This table displays the results of Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Age group, Total victims, Child victims
under 12 years, Youth victims, Adult victims, 12 to 15 years, 16 to 17 years, 18 to 24 years and 25 years and older, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Age group										Total victims^{Table 3.1 Note 1}
	Child victims under 12 years		Youth victims				Adult victims
	Child victims under 12 years		12 to 15 years		16 to 17 years		18 to 24 years		25 years and older
	number	percent^{Table 3.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 3.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 3.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 3.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 3.1 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 3.1 Note 1}
Violent Criminal Code offences
Violations causing death and attempted murder	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Homicide and other offences causing death^{Table 3.1 Note 2}	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Attempted murder	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual offences	22	22	27	28	11	11	15	15	23	23	98	100
Sexual assault	10	14	12	17	10	14	15	21	23	33	70	100
Sexual assault (level 3)—aggravated	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual assault (level 2)—weapon or causing bodily harm	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	100	1	100
Sexual assault (level 1)	10	14	12	17	10	14	15	22	22	32	69	100
Sexual violations against children^{Table 3.1 Note 3}	12	43	15	54	1	4	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	28	100
Assaults	14	2	25	4	40	7	152	25	378	62	609	100
Assault (level 3)—aggravated	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	33	4	67	6	100
Assault (level 2)—weapon or causing bodily harm	3	3	1	1	6	6	25	26	61	64	96	100
Assault (level 1)	11	2	23	5	34	7	124	25	300	61	492	100
Other^{Table 3.1 Note 4}	0	0	1	7	0	0	1	7	13	87	15	100
Other violent offences	7	2	20	5	14	4	85	23	238	65	364	100
Robbery	0	0	0	0	1	8	6	46	6	46	13	100
Criminal harassment	2	3	4	6	2	3	16	26	38	61	62	100
Indecent/harassing communications	0	0	2	2	2	2	19	23	59	72	82	100
Uttering threats	5	3	11	6	7	4	39	20	130	68	192	100
Kidnapping, forcible confinement, abduction or hostage taking	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	25	3	75	4	100
Trafficking in persons and prostitution	0	0	1	50	1	50	0	0	0	0	2	100
Other^{Table 3.1 Note 5}	0	0	2	22	1	11	4	44	2	22	9	100
Criminal Code traffic violations causing death or bodily harm^{Table 3.1 Note 6}
Impaired driving and other traffic violations causing death^{Table 3.1 Note 6}	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Impaired driving and other traffic violations causing bodily harm^{Table 3.1 Note 6}	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total victims	43	4	72	7	65	6	252	24	639	60	1,071	100
... not applicable Note 1 Total victims includes victims where the age was unknown. Percentage calculations exclude victims where the age was unknown. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Excludes Criminal Code traffic violations causing death such as impaired driving. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Sexual violations against children are a set of Criminal Code offences that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assault and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the "Definitions" section for a full list of offences in this category. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes assaults against police and other peace officers, and other types of assaults such as criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes violent firearm offences, extortion and other violent violations. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop and other Criminal Code traffic violations. Return to note 6 referrer Note: Victims refer to those aged 89 years and younger. Victims aged 90 years and older are excluded from analyses due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. For police-reported incidents that involve violations against the person, a victim record is collected for each victim involved in the incident. If an individual is a victim in multiple incidents in the same reference year, that individual will be counted as one victim for each separate incident. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Table 3.2
Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm, by type of offence and sex of victim, Prince Edward Island, 2016
Table summary
This table displays the results of Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Female victims, Male victims and Total victims, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Female victims		Male victims		Total victims^{Table 3.2 Note 1}
Type of offence	number	percent^{Table 3.2 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 3.2 Note 1}	number	percent^{Table 3.2 Note 1}
Violent Criminal Code offences
Violations causing death and attempted murder	0	0	0	0	0	0
Homicide and other offences causing death^{Table 3.2 Note 2}	0	0	0	0	0	0
Attempted murder	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual offences	82	84	16	16	98	100
Sexual assault	63	90	7	10	70	100
Sexual assault (level 3)—aggravated	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual assault (level 2)—weapon or causing bodily harm	1	100	0	0	1	100
Sexual assault (level 1)	62	90	7	10	69	100
Sexual violations against children^{Table 3.2 Note 3}	19	68	9	32	28	100
Assaults	293	48	313	52	609	100
Assault (level 3)—aggravated	1	17	5	83	6	100
Assault (level 2)—weapon or causing bodily harm	31	33	62	67	96	100
Assault (level 1)	257	52	235	48	492	100
Other^{Table 3.2 Note 4}	4	27	11	73	15	100
Other violent offences	198	54	166	46	364	100
Robbery	4	31	9	69	13	100
Criminal harassment	35	56	27	44	62	100
Indecent/harassing communications	59	72	23	28	82	100
Uttering threats	89	46	103	54	192	100
Kidnapping, forcible confinement, abduction or hostage taking	3	75	1	25	4	100
Trafficking in persons and prostitution	2	100	0	0	2	100
Other^{Table 3.2 Note 5}	6	67	3	33	9	100
Criminal Code traffic violations causing death or bodily harm^{Table 3.2 Note 6}
Impaired driving and other traffic violations causing death^{Table 3.2 Note 6}	0	0	0	0	0	0
Impaired driving and other traffic violations causing bodily harm^{Table 3.2 Note 6}	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total victims	573	54	495	46	1,071	100
Note 1 Total victims includes victims where the sex was unknown. Percentage calculations exclude victims where the sex was unknown. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Excludes Criminal Code traffic violations causing death such as impaired driving. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Sexual violations against children are a set of Criminal Code offences that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assault and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the "Definitions" section for a full list of offences in this category. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes assaults against police and other peace officers, as well as other types of assaults such as criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes violent firearm offences, extortion and other violent violations. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop and other Criminal Code traffic violations. Return to note 6 referrer Note: Victims refer to those aged 89 years and younger. Victims aged 90 years and older are excluded from analyses due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. For police-reported incidents that involve violations against the person, a victim record is collected for each victim involved in the incident. If an individual is a victim in multiple incidents in the same reference year, that individual will be counted as one victim for each separate incident. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Table 3.3
Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm, by type of offence and sex and age group of victim, Prince Edward Island, 2016
Table summary
This table displays the results of Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic violations causing death or bodily harm. The information is grouped by Type of offence (appearing as row headers), Age group, Total victims, Child victims
under 12 years, Youth victims
12 to 17 years and Adult victims
18 years and older, calculated using Number, rate and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of offence	Age group									Total victims^{Table 3.3 Note 1}
	Child victims under 12 years			Youth victims 12 to 17 years			Adult victims 18 years and older			Total victims^{Table 3.3 Note 1}
	number	rate	percent^{Table 3.3 Note 1}	number	rate	percent^{Table 3.3 Note 1}	number	rate	percent^{Table 3.3 Note 1}	number	rate	percent^{Table 3.3 Note 1}
Female victims
Violations causing death and attempted murder^{Table 3.3 Note 2}	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual offences	12	130	15	35	740	43	35	57	43	82	108	100
Sexual assault (level 1, 2 and 3)	7	76	11	21	444	33	35	57	56	63	83	100
Sexual violations against children^{Table 3.3 Note 3}	5	54	26	14	296	74	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	19	25	100
Assaults^{Table 3.3 Note 4}	6	65	2	31	656	11	256	417	87	293	385	100
Other violent offences^{Table 3.3 Note 5}	2	22	1	19	402	10	177	289	89	198	260	100
Criminal Code traffic violations causing death or bodily harm^{Table 3.3 Note 6}	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total female victims	20	217	3	85	1,798	15	468	763	82	573	752	100
Male victims
Violations causing death and attempted murder^{Table 3.3 Note 2}	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual offences	10	107	63	3	59	19	3	5	19	16	22	100
Sexual assault (level 1, 2 and 3)	3	32	43	1	20	14	3	5	43	7	10	100
Sexual violations against children^{Table 3.3 Note 3}	7	75	78	2	40	22	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	Note ...: not applicable	9	12	100
Assaults^{Table 3.3 Note 4}	8	86	3	34	672	11	271	469	87	313	432	100
Other violent offences^{Table 3.3 Note 5}	5	53	3	15	297	9	146	253	88	166	229	100
Criminal Code traffic violations causing death or bodily harm^{Table 3.3 Note 6}	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total male victims	23	246	5	52	1,028	11	420	727	85	495	683	100
Total victims^{Table 3.3 Note 7}	43	232	4	137	1,400	13	891	748	83	1,071	720	100
... not applicable Note 1 Total victims includes victims where the age was unknown. Percentage calculations exclude victims where the age was unknown. Return to note 1 referrer Note 2 Includes homicide, other offences causing death and attempted murder. Excludes Criminal Code traffic violations causing death such as impaired driving. Return to note 2 referrer Note 3 Sexual violations against children are a set of Criminal Code offences that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assault and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the "Definitions" section for a full list of offences in this category. Return to note 3 referrer Note 4 Includes assault (level 1, 2 and 3), assaults against police and other peace officers, and other types of assaults such as criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Return to note 4 referrer Note 5 Includes robbery; criminal harassment; incident/harassing communications; uttering threats; kidnapping, forcible confinement, abduction or hostage taking; trafficking in persons and prostitution; violent firearm offences; extortion; and other violent violations. Return to note 5 referrer Note 6 Includes impaired driving, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop and other Criminal Code traffic violations. Return to note 6 referrer Note 7 Includes victims where the sex was unknown. Return to note 7 referrer Note: Victims refer to those aged 89 years and younger. Victims aged 90 years and older are excluded from analyses due to possible instances of miscoding of unknown age within this age category. Rates are calculated on the basis of 100,000 population. Populations based upon July 1st estimates from Statistics Canada, Demography Division. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. For police-reported incidents that involve violations against the person, a victim record is collected for each victim involved in the incident. If an individual is a victim in multiple incidents in the same reference year, that individual will be counted as one victim for each separate incident. Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Notes

Note

Sexual violations against children are a set of Criminal Code violations that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assaults and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the “Definitions” section for a full list of offences in this category.

Return to note referrer

Note

Because of differences in the definition of victims and methods of counting, these victim counts should not be compared to victim counts for other provinces and territories. Moreover, these counts should also not be compared to the count of police-reported victims from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.

Return to note referrer

Note

Counts refer to newly opened cases or referrals in the reference year. Where services are provided to a victim with multiple charges related to the same accused, the case is maintained as one open file and counted as one victim. Because data is limited to new referrals, ongoing files of this nature that were first opened in a previous year, but where there have been new charges involving the same accused during the current reference year, are not included in the data. Prince Edward Island maintains a single file per deceased direct victim, and does not count family members individually when they access victim services.

Return to note referrer

Note

Victims include direct victims, families of victims and businesses.

Return to note referrer

Note

Some of these child and youth victims are victims of sexual violations against children, a set of Criminal Code offences that specifically concern offences involving child and youth victims. These include offences such as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation, but exclude sexual assault and other sexual offences not specific to children. See the "Definitions" section for a full list of offences in this category.

Return to note referrer

Date modified:: 2018-05-30

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Fact sheet
Prince Edward Island

Victims of police-reported violent crime in Prince Edward Island, 2016

Victim services in Prince Edward Island

Detailed data tables

Fact sheetPrince Edward Island

Victims of police-reported violent crime in Prince Edward Island, 2016

Victim services in Prince Edward Island

Detailed data tables

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Fact sheet
Prince Edward Island