Adult criminal court statistics

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Cases in adult criminal courts are taking longer to complete. In 2006/2007, it took on average eight months to dispose of a case in adult court. This was considerably longer than the average of six months five years earlier.

Longer times to complete cases may be in part due to an increase in the proportion of cases involving multiple charges. Cases involving multiple charges represented 60% of the adult caseload in 2006/2007, compared with 57% five years earlier and 53% a decade earlier.

Fewer cases are being disposed of in adult criminal court each year, in light of the increased case complexity and duration, as well as a long-term downward trend in police-reported crime statistics.

In 2006/2007, just over 372,000 cases were disposed of in adult criminal courts, down 7% from five years earlier.

Nearly half of the cases completed in 2006/2007 involved crimes against the person (25%) and crimes against property (24%). Administration of justice offences involved 17%, and Criminal Code traffic offences, 14%. The remaining 20% involved other Criminal Code and federal statute offences.

Almost two-thirds (65%) of adult cases received a guilty disposition in 2006/2007. In a large majority of these cases (89%), the accused had pleaded guilty. The Criminal Code traffic offences category had the highest share of cases with a finding of guilt (79%). The lowest (53%) occurred in crimes against the person.

In 2006/2007, probation was the most frequently imposed sanction (43%) in cases having a guilty finding. Custody was imposed in 34% of cases, and a fine in 30%.

The proportion for prison was up slightly from what it was five years earlier, while the percentage for fines was somewhat lower, and the proportion for probation virtually unchanged.

Data for the fiscal year 2006/2007 represent approximately 98% of the national adult criminal court caseload in all provinces and territories. Trend analysis for this release was performed on a five-year time series (2002/2003 to 2006/2007) composed of all provinces and territories with the exception of Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Note: The concept of a case has changed, and to account for the new case definition, adult court data dating back to 1994/1995 were revised in the release of October 23, 2007. Statistics in this release should not be compared to statistics from releases dated prior that date.

Available on CANSIM: tables 252-0043 to 252-0046.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3312.

The Juristat: "Adult criminal court statistics, 2006/2007," Vol. 28, no. 5, (85-002-XIE, free), is now available from our website. From the Publications module, under Free Internet publications, choose Crime and justice, then Juristat. A paper version (85-002-XPE, $11/$100) is also available.

For standard tables or further information on the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Information and Client Services (613-951-9023; toll-free 1-800-387-2231), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

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