Homicide in Canada, 2017
Interesting StatsCan study of homicides in Canada in 2017. Highlights that I took from this study (my comments in
italics):
1) 67% of all homicides that occurred in 2017 were "solved" (see definition below) by the end of 2017.
Since the Shermans were killed at the end of 2017, (let's call it effectively 2018 to give the benefit of the doubt to LE), one could argue that there was about a 2/3 chance that their murders should have been "solved" in 2018. Yet we have no charges or accused persons.
2) Four out of five victims of solved homicides in 2017 knew their killer.
Wow
3) In 2017, two-thirds (66%) of adults (18 years or older) accused of homicide had a criminal record in Canada
Excerpt from the above study (RBBM)
A look at solve rates from the Homicide Survey
A homicide incident is considered solved (or ‘cleared’
Text box 1 Note 1) when police either report laying or recommending a charge of homicide against at least one accused person or they report solving homicides by other means (e.g., the suicide of the accused person).
Text box 1 Note 2 Where there are multiple victims involved in a single homicide incident, the solved status of the incident applies to each victim. In incidents where there are multiple accused persons involved, a homicide is considered solved on the date when the first accused person in the case is identified by police.
Homicides may be solved months or years after they occur. The Homicide Survey collects updates for previously reported homicides to revise the solved status and to allow for the collection of additional details gathered throughout homicide investigations, if applicable. In all cases, the number of solved homicides are always reported according to the year in which they were reported by the police to the Homicide Survey (which also corresponds to the year in which the incident was deemed a homicide by the police and began being investigated as such).
For instance, as of December 31st, 2017, 441 of the 660 homicides that occurred in 2017 had been solved, resulting in a solve rate of 67%, the same rate as that of 2016 at the end of the year but lower than the average over the previous 10 years (70%). During the 2018 data collection cycle, some of the outstanding unsolved homicides may become solved, which would then increase the solve rate for 2017 homicides.
Note 1
The terms ‘solved’ and ‘cleared’ are used synonymously in this article to describe homicide incidents where police investigation has led to the identification of an accused person (charged/suspect-chargeable) and whether a charge has been laid or recommended, or cleared by other means. The term ‘cleared’ is widely recognized by North American and international law enforcement agencies. For further information regarding police-reported clearance rates refer to the
Juristat article, “Police-reported clearance rates in Canada, 2010” (
Hotton Mahony and Turner 2012).
Return to note 1 referrer
Note 2
The Homicide Survey is a police-reported source of data, therefore it does not track court-related outcomes for homicide incidents such as decisions put forth by Crown attorneys, convictions, or sentencing-related information. For further information related to court decisions for homicide charges brought before the adult criminal court system in Canada, refer to the
Juristat article, “Adult criminal court statistics in Canada, 2015/2016” (
Maxwell 2017) or Table
35-10-0027-01.
