[JURIST] Statistics Canada [official website] announced Tuesday that the police-reported crime rate for 2011 declined six percent [text, PDF] from 2010, reaching the lowest level since 1972. Throughout the country 1,984,916 incidents of crimes were reported in 2011—110,000 fewer than in 2010. However, despite the fact that rates for most violent crimes fell in 2011, officials said that the country’s homicide rate rose by seven percent. Homicides rates increased in the provinces of Alberta and Quebec while the providence of Manitoba ranked first, having the highest homicide rate for the fifth consecutive year. Incidents of sexual violations against children, including child pornography which had a 40 percent increase alone, also rose by three percent compared to 2010. The gender of perpetrators remained similar to 2010 with 79 percent of accused persons being male.

Crime statistics have shown a similar trend in the US. Last month the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) [official website] released [JURIST report] the Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report [text] documenting that the overall rate of violent crimes has decreased throughout the US. Murder and non-negligent manslaughter declined 1.9 percent, and forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault each declined 4 percent. While such crimes decreased in metropolitan counties, the same types increased significantly in cities with populations under 10,000. In terms of property crimes, motor vehicle theft dropped 3.3 percent while larceny theft dropped 0.9 percent. The same crimes increased in smaller cities. It was the fifth year in a row that violent crimes decreased. The trend continued from the preliminary semiannual report [text] that the FBI released [JURIST report] in December last year. The report for 2010 showed a decrease of 6.0 percent in violent crime and a decrease of 2.7 percent in property crime compared to 2009 statistics [JURIST reports]. The decrease began after 2006 and 2005 statistics [JURIST reports].