Details about this story

• Source: Toronto Star
• Date: July 19, 2008
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Sandro Contenta , Betsy Powell , Jim Rankin , Patty Winsa
• Topics: Crime
• Data Types: FOIA , Federal Data
• Description/Excerpt: The Star will explore the state of crime and punishment in Canada, including the social costs of mandatory minimum sentences, in a series of articles and, on-line at thestar.com, in video documentaries, interactive maps and timelines, and a game, where you are the judge. The research includes never-before-released criminal data obtained through three freedom of information requests, including one that took 2 1/2 years and required the intervention of the information commissioner. In that request, the RCMP turned over the criminal histories of 2.9 million residents (500,000 of whom had not been convicted) from a national database accessed daily by police across the country. About one in 10 Canadian adults has a criminal record, and the data obtained by the Star reflects that. In the other requests, Correctional Services Canada released data on all federal inmates that were both in custody and on parole one day last year; and, the provincial government released a one-day snapshot of nearly 4,000 inmates last year serving sentences of less than two years in Ontario jails. Offenders were not named. But in many cases the data give their hometowns and, for most Ontario inmates, their last postal code. The three sets of data provide a statistical portrait of who our criminals are, and what they've done. The violent crime category, on the face of it, is high enough to cause concern. But six of every 10 violent crimes in Canada are minor assaults, according to the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, a branch of Statistics Canada. Furthermore, the violent crime rate peaked in 1992 and dropped 12 per cent by 1999. It has remained relatively stable since.
• Methodology: See explainer