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  1. In 2008, just over 75,000 children and youth were victims of police-reported violent crime. That is, for every 100,000 children and youth in Canada, 1,111 were victims of a violent offence.
  2. The rate of violence against children and youth under 18 tends to increase as children get older. The lowest rate of violence was reported for children under 3 years of age, after which the rate substantially increases for each subsequent age group.
  3. Teens aged 15 to 17 reported the highest rate of violence among all age groups.
  4. Physical assaults were the most common type of police-reported violence committed against children and youth with nearly 42,000 physical assaults being reported to police in 2008.
  5. Overall, boys were more likely than girls to be victims of physical assault. Males under the age of 18 were victims of physical assault at a rate that was nearly 1.5 times higher than their female counterparts.
  6. The majority of police-reported physical assaults against children under the age of 6 were committed by someone known to the victim (81%). For these young victims, 6 in 10 physical assaults were perpetrated by a family member.
  7. Over half (59%) of all victims of police-reported sexual assault were children and youth under the age of 18. The rate of sexual assaults against children and youth was over 1.5 times higher than the rate for young adults aged 18 to 24.
  8. Sexual violence against children and youth was more commonly perpetrated by someone known to the victim (75%), including family members, friends or acquaintances.
  9. Male teens aged 15 to 17 reported the highest robbery rates among all child and youth age groups, at a rate that was 5 times higher than the rate for all children and youth under 18, and nearly 1.5 times higher than the rate for young adult males aged 18 to 24.
  10. Most persons accused of robbing teens were themselves teens (59%) or young adults aged 18 to 24 (24%).
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