Overview of selected youth criminal justice statistics, 2024

PDF Version

May 2026

This fact sheet brings together select youth criminal justice system statistics pertaining to topics such as:

• youth crime measures, including crime rates and severity;
• diversion, specifically extrajudicial measures at the policing stage;
• sentencing;
• overrepresentation; and,
• recidivism.

All statistics are from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Center for Justice and Community Safety Statistics (CCJCSS) criminal justice-related micro-surveys: the Uniform Crime Reporting survey (UCR; police-reported information); the Integrated Criminal Courts Survey (ICCS; court-reported information); and, the Canadian Correctional Services Survey (CCSS; correctional services-reported information). For more information, see each referenced sources, as well as Justice Canada’s State of the Criminal Justice System.

Section 1. Youth crime measures

1.1 Crime rates^{Footnote 1}

Youth crime rates are based on the number of youth, aged 12 to 17, who came in contact with the police as a result of a reported criminal incident, and were either charged (or recommended for a charge), or were cleared by other means which includes being diverted from the formal criminal justice system through the use of extrajudicial measures.

The police-reported youth crime rate measures the volume of crime per 100,000 youth population. It combines the per capita rate of youth charged with a criminal offence by police (or recommended for a charge) and the rate of youth cleared by other means (i.e., not charged).

• From 2014 to 2024, the overall youth crime rate decreased 31%. While the police-reported youth crime rate generally decreased year-over-year during this time period, an increase from the previous year was observed in 2017 (less than 1%), in 2022 (+19%) and in 2023 (+13%). Despite the 13% increase in police-reported youth crime rate from 2022 to 2023, the latest data (2024) show a 4% decrease from 2023, and the 2024 rate remains lower (13% lower) than that in 2019.
• While there was an overall decrease in the police-reported youth crime rate over the past decade, the youth violent crime rate increased by 10%.
  • For example, homicide,^{Footnote 2} the most severe offence in Canada, increased among youth from 2014 to 2024, from a rate of 1 per 100,000 youth population to 2 per 100,000. However, it’s important to consider the relatively small number of homicides in interpreting changes over time; homicide continues to represent less than 1% of all police-reported youth crimes.
  • Between 2014 and 2024, other notable increases in violent crimes include: total sexual violations against children, total firearms, use of, discharge, pointing, and sexual assault, level 2 (weapon or bodily harm).
• Youth charged: The crime rate includes both youth charged and youth not charged and in recent years, youth not charged have declined more sharply while youth charged have been steadily increasing since 2022 (Annex I).
  • In 2024, the overall youth crime rate decreased by 4%, but the number and rate of youth charged increased by 4% and 1%, respectively. In contrast, the number and rate of youth not charged decreased by 6% and 8%, respectively. See Sub-Section 1.3 Diversion: Use of extrajudicial measures.

1.2 Youth Crime Severity Index^{Footnote 3}

The Youth Crime Severity Index (CSI) provides a measure that considers both the volume and severity of crime, and has a base index value that has been adjusted to equal 100 in the base year (2006). Similar to the youth police-reported crime rate, the Youth CSI is based on the number of youth who come into contact with the police. The Youth CSI is based on Criminal Code incidents, including traffic offences, as well as other federal statute violations.^{Footnote 4}

• Between 2014 and 2024, the Youth CSI decreased 13%, driven by the 46% decrease in the Youth Non-Violent CSI. Meanwhile, the Youth Violent CSI increased 28% during this period, driven by increases in assault levels 2^{Footnote 5} and 3,^{Footnote 6} sexual assault,^{Footnote 7} sexual violation against children,^{Footnote 8} firearm offences^{Footnote 9} and robbery^{Footnote 10} to name a few examples.
• In more recent years, the Youth CSI increased 32% from an index of 41.18 in 2021 to 54.21 in 2023. More specifically, the Youth Violent CSI increased 35% from an index of 64.32 in 2021 to 86.82 in 2023, and the Youth Non-Violent CSI increased 26% from an index of 25.02 in 2021 to 31.44 in 2023.
• However, following these two consecutive yearly increases, the latest available data show a 3% decrease in 2024 from 2023; the Youth Violent CSI decreased 4% and the Youth Non-Violent CSI decreased 2%.
• Further, the 2024 overall Youth CSI remains 5% lower to the pre-pandemic year (2019).

1.3 Diversion: Use of extrajudicial measures^{Footnote 11}

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA)—the federal legislation that governs the youth criminal justice system for youth aged 12 to 17 years old— was implemented in 2003 in an effort to reduce the overreliance on courts and incarceration by increasing the use of out-of-court responses, also known as diversion. To this end, the Act encourages police officers to exercise their discretion in using extrajudicial measures (EJMs) as an alternative to charging youth with a criminal offence. EJMs include actions such as verbal warnings, written cautions, referrals to a community program and referrals to an extrajudicial sanctions program.^{Footnote 12}

• In 2024, half (51%) of all youth who came in contact with the police were not charged, meaning they were either diverted by EJMs (26%) or cleared via other means (25%) (which includes taking no further action, among other things).^{Footnote 13}

Section 2. Youth in pre-trial detention and sentenced custody^{Footnote 14}

Pre-trial detention includes young persons detained in custody who are awaiting a further court appearance, and are not presently serving any type of sentence, unless stated otherwise. It is a measure of last resort, emphasizing that the young person should remain in the community whenever possible and appropriate to do so. While pre-trial detention plays a critical role in the protection of society and the administration of justice, it can also present deeper systemic issues related to legal rights (e.g., presumption of innocence), human rights, access to justice, a culture of inefficiency and delays, and disproportionate impact on certain people.

• In 2013/2014, there were 1,019 total actual-in count young persons held in custody, whether that be under sentence, pre-trial detention, provincial director remand and other temporary detention at the time the count is taken; by 2023/2024, the number of young persons held in custody decreased by 40% to 614. While the total number of actual-in count young persons decreased over that time period, it began rising in 2022/2023 (increased by 9% from 459 in 2021/2022 to 499 in 2022/2023), with 2023/2024 showing a 34% (614) increase compared to the year prior, mostly due to increases in pre-trial detention.
• Looking specifically at those in custody due to pre-trial detention, the proportion of young people held in pre-trial detention increased from 50% in 2013/2014 (509) to 67% in 2023/2024 (413).^{Footnote 15}

Section 3. Youth sentencing^{Footnote 16}

The YCJA focuses on rehabilitation, accountability and reintegration. It puts an emphasis on non-custodial sentences, with incarceration reserved for violent or serious offences.

• In 2023/2024, 9% (546) of guilty cases were given a custodial sentence (including intensive rehabilitation custody and supervision) as the most serious sentence in the case (MSS)^{Footnote 17}; 5% of guilty cases received deferred custody and supervision orders; and, the remaining guilty cases received non-custodial sentences (includes sentences such as intensive support and supervision, probation, attending a non-residential program, fines, community service, etc.).
• In comparison, in 2013/2014, 15% (3,405) of guilty cases were given a custodial sentence as the MSS.

Section 4. Overrepresentation of Indigenous and Black youth

In 2025/2026, Statistics Canada introduced a new measure called the Overrepresentation Index. For the first time, correctional data from the federal and provincial/territorial levels are combined to provide data on the entire correctional system, for an overview of correctional involvement among Indigenous and Black adults in Canada. The Overrepresentation Index controls for demographic differences (e.g., in age and sex) between populations in the correctional system.^{Footnote 18} In the absence of this index for youth, it’s important to monitor their proportion amongst the correctional population, in comparison to their share in the general population.

Indigenous youth:

• The proportion of Indigenous youth in correctional supervision remained at around 40% from 2016/2017 to 2023/2024, 5 times higher than their share of the youth population in Canada (8%).^{Footnote 19}

Black youth:

• The proportion of Black youth in correctional supervision in NS, ON, AB, and BC remained at around 12-13% from 2019/2020 to 2023/2024, almost 2 times higher than their combined share of the youth population in the four provinces (7%).^{Footnote 20}

Section 5. Youth recidivism

Recidivism is the act of committing another crime or coming into conflict with the criminal justice system (CJS) again, following an initial crime/contact. It is an important measure of the effectiveness of CJS efforts to promote rehabilitation, reintegration, and public safety. However, there are significant variations in how recidivism is defined and measured (e.g., re-contact, re-arrest, re-incarceration, or reconviction) across studies and in different jurisdictions. Over the last decade, Statistics Canada has conducted a few re-contact studies; for a more detailed overview, please see Recidivism in the Criminal Justice System (2020). Key youth-related findings include:

• Nova Scotia:^{Footnote 21} Among 2,838 youth (aged 12–17) accused of a criminal incident in 2012/2013, half (50%) had at least one re-contact with Nova Scotia police within two years. Re-contact was highest among youth whose initial criminal incident went to court (77% had re-contact). The study also found that a small group of chronic offenders (12% of total youths, with five or more re-contacts) accounted for 45% of total youth contacts with police over two years.
• Saskatchewan:^{Footnote 22} Re-contact with Saskatchewan police was most common among those whose first contact led to correctional supervision (73%), compared to those whose first contact only involved the police (64%) or ended in the court system (51%). Youth whose first contact took them through correctional services had particularly high re-contact (84% vs. 70% of adults)—even higher for Indigenous youth (90% vs. 79% of non-Indigenous youth). Similar to the Nova Scotia findings, a small group of chronic offenders (21%) accounted for 57% of justice contacts over three years.
• Ontario:^{Footnote 23} A 2019 study found that re-contact with the Ontario CJS was more common among youth than adults. Over half of youth (51%) whose first contact only involved the police had at least one re-contact with police, compared to 38% for adults. Among youth whose first pathway ended in the court system, 60% had at least one re-contact with police (vs. 34% for adults), and 77% for youth whose first contact took them through correctional services (vs. 60% for adults).

Since then, other studies have since been conducted on the topic. Notably:

Statistics Canada’s (2025) Patterns of re-offending among accused persons living in rural areas of the Canadian provinces, 2014 to 2023:

• With respect to youth aged 12 to 17 years, the study found almost six in ten youth (59%) had re-contact with police during the nine-year follow-up period from the initial contact with police. Of this proportion, 25% had one re-contact with police, 35% had between two and five re-contacts, 15% had between six and ten re-contacts, and the remaining one-quarter (25%) had more than ten re-contacts.^{Footnote 24} Of those who had re-contact with police, six in ten had re-contact within one year (59% regardless of if the youth accused was living in rural or urban areas).
• Crime severity was most often less serious between first and second contact. For example, among youth accused living in rural areas, 43% who had a re-contact were accused of a less serious offence for the second contact (i.e., first re-contact), 38% were accused of a more serious crime, and 20% committed a crime of the same level of severity.

Overview of selected youth criminal justice statistics, 2024

J4-205/2026E-PDF
ISBN 978-1-100-00102-9

Annex I. Number and rate of youth charged and not charged per 100,000 youth population, Canada, 2014 to 2024

Annex II. Youth Admissions^{Footnote 25} to Correctional Services, by Indigenous Identity, 2016/2017 to 2023/2024

Annex III. Youth Admissions to Correctional Services, by Black Identity, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, 2019/2020 to 2023/2024