OTTAWA, April 22, 2005, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Statistics Canada released a report indicating that children and youth were the most common victims of violent and sexual crimes in Canada in 2003. According to the report 60% of police reported sexual assaults, 21% of physical assaults and 17% of other crimes dealt with children in spite of the fact that young people only make up 21% of the population.
The report found that the risk of violent victimization for children and youth increases with age and that the perpetrators of violent crimes against children and youth change as children get older. The majority of physical and sexual assaults against children under the age of six were committed by a family member, most often a parent. In contrast, older youth aged 14 to 17 were more likely to be assaulted by a peer or a stranger.
Police data showed that during the 2003 school year children aged 6 to 13 were at the greatest risk of physical assault during the four-hour period between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. About 4 out of every 10 physical assaults occurred during this interval.
In terms of sexual assaults they are largely crimes committed against children and young people. Of the 15,000 sexual assaults reported by the 122 police services, 61% of victims were aged 17 and under. About four-fifths of these victims were girls, and more than two-thirds of these females were between 11 and 17 years old.
Younger victims were more likely to be sexually assaulted by a family member. Half of victims under the age of 6 were sexually assaulted by a family member, while this was the case for about 44% of victims aged 6 to 10, 28% of victims aged 11 to 13 and 20% of victims aged 14 to 17. Only 4% of victims under the age of 6 and about 10% of victims aged 6 to 13 were sexually assaulted by a stranger while this was the case for almost one-fifth of victims aged 14 to 17.
In terms of homicide infants under the age of one were at highest risk, according to national data on homicides collected between 1998 and 2003. During this six-year period, the average homicide rate for infants under the age of one was 25 for every million of population. This was about double the second highest rate of 14 for males aged 14 to 17.
During this six-year period, 401 children aged 17 and under were victims of homicide. Two-thirds of the 350 solved homicides against children and youth were committed by a family member. Over one-half of these were committed by the victim’s father followed by the mother (32%) and other family members (9%).
Police data showed that the youngest victims, those under 6 years of age, were usually the victims of some form of physical force, such as strangulation or suffocation, beatings or forceful shaking.
The motive most often reported in homicides of young children was frustration. Conversely, teenagers aged 14 to 17 were most often killed as a result of an argument.
StatsCanada issued the caveat that since the 122 police services in this study represent 61% of the national volume of crime the data should not be considered to be nationally representative.