Crime has declined for more than 20 years: StatsCan
Posted January 28, 2015 3:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Statistics Canada has crunched the numbers and found the crime rate has been declining for decades.
The results of a “megatrends” analysis show that since the agency started keeping track in 1962, crime rates experienced a peak in 1991 and then began a steady decline.
In 2013, the crime rate was at its lowest point since 1969.
There is no clear reason for the decline, says the agency, but there are some expert theories, including changing police strategies and practices, shifts in unemployment and variations in alcohol consumption.
Similar trends have been seen in other countries.
The agency says homicide, which is sometimes used as an overall indicator of crime rates, represented less than one per cent of all violent crimes reported to police in 2013. Overall, 505 homicides were recorded that year.
The rate peaked in 1975 at 3.03 per 100,000 population.
