FIGURE 10.4 Good News? Youth crime has been steadily declining in Canada for several years. According to Statistics Canada, both the youth crime rate, which measures the volume of youth crime, and youth crime severity, a measure of the seriousness of youth crime, fell 10 percent in 2011, continuing a downward trend evident over the last decade. One reason for the continued decline may be that starting in 2003, when the Youth Criminal Justice Act was passed, the rate of youths diverted from the formal justice system has continually exceeded the rate of youths formally charged.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2012n.