Multi-Site Survey of Victims of Crime and Criminal Justice Professionals Across Canada
3. Experience of Victims in the Criminal Justice System
3. Experience of Victims in the Criminal Justice System
This section presents the results from the victims of crime respondents. Unlike the data gathering method with the criminal justice system respondents, all data from victims were gathered through in person interviews only. Please note that numbers are used instead of percentages when discussing a small subset of the data.
3.1 Overview of Case and Victim Characteristics
A total of 112 victims of crime took part in this study. Overall:
- About four-fifths are female, and one-fifth are male.
- Almost three-quarters are between the ages of 25 and 64.
- Over half (57%) of victims are from large urban cities. Just over one-quarter are from medium-sized cities, and one-sixth are from small towns and rural areas.
- For just over one-tenth, French is their first language.
- Less than one-tenth are of Aboriginal origin.
Table 6 below presents their demographic characteristics.
TABLE 6: VICTIM REPONDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
| Victims (N=112) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | |
| Female | 88 | 79% |
| Male | 24 | 21% |
| Victims (N=112) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | |
| Aboriginal | 8 | 7% |
| Non-Aboriginal | 102 | 91% |
| No response | 2 | 2% |
| Victims (N=112) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | |
| Less than 18 | 4 | 4% |
| Less than 18 | 14 | 13% |
| 25-34 | 23 | 21% |
| 35-44 | 29 | 26% |
| 45-54 | 23 | 21% |
| 55-64 | 7 | 6% |
| 65 and over | 10 | 9% |
| No response | 2 | 2% |
| Victims (N=112) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | |
| English | 92 | 82% |
| French | 14 | 13% |
| Other | 6 | 5% |
| Victims (N=112) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | |
| Large | 64 | 57% |
| Medium | 30 | 27% |
| Small | 18 | 16% |
Among these 112 victim respondents, four-fifths (n=92) directly experienced the crime, 16 had family members who were victims of crime, and four were representatives of corporate victims. Of the 16 with family members who were victims of crime, ten were parents of the victim, four were siblings, one was a child, and one was a spouse.
Overall, the victim respondents had experienced a variety of a total of 141 violent and/or property crimes, ranging from uttering threats to murder. The most common were sexual assault (27), common assault (17), assault causing bodily harm (17), and uttering threats (14). While violent crimes against the person predominated (i.e., violent crimes accounted for 64% of all crimes experienced by victim respondents), some victims had experienced property crimes, such as theft and break and enter. Table 7 provides the complete results of the crimes upon which victim respondents based their experience of the criminal justice system.
| Type of Crime: | Victims (N=112) | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Crimes (N=144) | Percent (%) | |
| Sexual assault | 27 | 24% |
| Assault (common) | 17 | 15% |
| Assault causing bodily harm | 17 | 15% |
| Uttering threats | 14 | 13% |
| Theft | 9 | 8% |
| Break and enter | 9 | 8% |
| Criminal harassment | 9 | 8% |
| Murder or manslaughter | 9 | 8% |
| Assault with a weapon | 8 | 7% |
| Fraud | 5 | 4% |
| Child molestation or interference with a child | 3 | 3% |
| Impaired or dangerous driving causing death | 2 | 2% |
| Property damage | 2 | 2% |
| Other | 8 | 7% |
| No response | 1 | 1% |
Note: Respondents could provide more than one response; total does not sum to 100%.
Most (75%) victims knew the accused. Almost 40% reported that they had a current or former intimate relationship with the accused, and 8% said that the accused was some other family member. Most of the remaining victims identified the accused as an acquaintance (19%), a neighbour (4%), or a friend (4%). About one-quarter (23%) of victims reported that a stranger committed the crime. Another 2% either did not know or chose not to respond to the question.
Over nine-tenths of victims (93%) discussed a crime that had occurred since 1990, and over half (56%) had experienced the crime since 2001. Thirteen percent of victims reported that they first became involved with the criminal justice system between 1990 and 1998. Most (85%) said that their involvement with the system began on or after 1999 (the year of Bill C-79). Table 8 provides more detailed results.
| Year in Which Crime First Occurred (N=112) | Year First Involved With Criminal Justice System (N=112) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| Pre-1990 | 7 | 6% | -- | -- |
| 1990-1998 | 16 | 14% | 14 | 13% |
| 1999 | 9 | 8% | 12 | 11% |
| 2000 | 16 | 14% | 15 | 13% |
| 2001 | 24 | 21% | 22 | 20% |
| 2002 | 38 | 34% | 44 | 39% |
| 2003 | 1 | 1% | 2 | 2% |
| Not applicable | 0 | -- | 2 | 2% |
| Don't know | 1 | 1% | 1 | 1% |
Note: Totals do not sum to100% due to rounding.
About two-thirds of all cases resulted in either guilty pleas (41%) or convictions at trial (31 %). In these cases, the most common sentences were jail time (33%) and/or probation (32%). About one-sixth of victims' cases had not yet been concluded at the time of the interview. Complete results are in Tables 9 and 10.
| Disposition: | Victims (N=112) | |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | |
| No charges laid | 9 | 8% |
| Charges dropped | 4 | 4% |
| Awaiting final disposition | 18 | 16% |
| Pleaded guilty | 41 | 37% |
| Convicted at trial | 31 | 28% |
| Found not guilty at trial | 5 | 5% |
| Other | 4 | 4% |
Note: Total does not sum to 100% due to rounding.
| Sentence: | Victims (n=72) | Percent (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Incarcerated | 33 | 46% |
| Probation | 32 | 44% |
| Conditional sentence | 16 | 22% |
| Suspended sentence | 2 | 3% |
| Restitution | 2 | 3% |
| Other | 5 | 7% |
| Don't know | 5 | 7% |
Note: Victims could provide more than one response; total sums to more than 100%.
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