Police-reported sexual violations against children continued to increase in 2014

While children or youth can be victims of sexual assaults (levels 1, 2 and 3), there are also a number of sexual violations within the Criminal Code that, by definition, apply only to victims under the age of 18. These specific sexual violations are categorized within the UCR Survey as “sexual violations against children”, and include: luring a child via a computer or the agreement/arrangement by means of telecommunication to commit a sexual offence against a child; sexual exploitation; sexual interference; invitation to sexual touching; and, making sexually explicit material available to a child.

The number of police-reported sexual violations against children continued to rise in 2014, representing one of the few categories of violent violations to increase from the previous year. In total, there were approximately 4,500 police-reported sexual violations against children in 2014, about 300 more than in 2013 and resulting in a rate increase of 6%. This was primarily the result of incidents of luring a child via a computer (including the agreement or arrangement to commit a sexual offence against a child), which increased from 850 incidents in 2013 to 1,190 incidents in 2014. While the violations of making sexually explicit material available to a child and sexual exploitation recorded slight increases in the number of incidents between 2013 and 2014, the number of incidents related to sexual interference or invitation to sexual touching declined over the same period.

It is important to note that for the violations included in “sexual violations against children”, differences in police-reported statistics between geographic areas or across time may be influenced by levels of reporting to police, as well as by single incidents that include several victims. In addition, certain police services dedicate special units to investigate these types of crime, which can also impact differences by geographic areas or changes over time. Similar to sexual assaults in general, the number of sexual violations against children is also expected to be an underestimate due to compounding factors that are likely to impact reporting, such as reliance on an adult to bring the incident to the attention of police.

In addition to sexual violations against children, in which information on the victim is available, the UCR Survey also collects data on accessing, possessing, making, printing or distributing child pornography. In 2014, the number and rate of child pornography incidents continued to rise, up from approximately 2,800 incidents in 2013 to about 4,000 incidents in 2014.

As a result, the rate increased by 41%, up from 8 incidents per 100,000 population in 2013 to 11 incidents per 100,000 population in 2014. Part of this increase, however, can be attributed to a proactive project initiated by the British Columbia Integrated Child Exploitation Unit which recorded Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that were in possession of, and possibly sharing child pornography.