Rising Violent and Property Crimes Fuel Spike in Youth Charges: StatCan

Police tape cordons off a crime scene in Toronto on Jan. 14, 2023. The Canadian Press/Arlyn McAdorey

An increasing number of Canadian youth are facing criminal charges, outpacing numbers seen over the past four years, newly released government data shows.

Statistics Canada’s latest figures indicate that 57,956 Canadian youths between the ages of 12 and 17 were charged with crimes in fiscal 2025-2026, which spans April 1 to March 31.

The latest statistics mark a multi-year high surpassing figures from the past four years, primarily fuelled by rises in violent crimes and property-related offences.

More than a third of the offences recorded were classified as crimes “against the person,” StatCan said. During this period, 22,042 youths were charged with these types of crimes, with male youths representing a greater proportion of the offences at 15,531, while female youths accounted for 5,002.

Crimes against the person are those that involve force, the threat of force, or bodily harm against another individual, according to the StatCan, and range from stalking and uttering threats to assault, sexual offences, and murder.

An additional 12,891 crimes were committed “against property,” the figures show, with nearly 10,000 male youths facing charges for such crimes during this timeframe alongside more than 2,000 female youths.

These charges range from mischief, possession of stolen property and break and enter to theft, fraud, and arson.

There were also more than 10,000 administration of justice charges laid during the year, with 7,081 charges attributed to boys and 2,769 to girls.

Administration of justice charges are criminal offences for breaking court rules, release conditions, or legal orders. They happen when a person disobeys pre-trial bail, ignores probation rules, fails to attend court, or interferes with the legal system.

More than 1,000 traffic violations were recorded during the same timeframe, alongside 6,684 charges for various other Criminal Code offences, which may include breaches of federal statutes like the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The fiscal year 2019-2020 marked the peak for total youth offences, reaching 74,551. In total, 24,291 of these offences were labelled as crimes against the person and 18,024 were characterized as crimes against property.

That year marked a pinnacle for both types of crimes, but numbers in both categories fell in 2020-2021 to 16,226 for crimes against the person, and 10,575 for crimes against property. Rates fell again in 2021-2022 down to 13,372 and 7,783, respectively.

Crime rates began to pick up again in fiscal 2023-2024 and rose again the following year before hitting a four-year high in 2025-2026.

Youth crime rates in more recent years have differed considerably from the 2009-to-2019 period, when the rate of youth accused of crime fell 51 percent. During the same period, the Youth Crime Severity Index, which measures both the volume and severity of crime involving youth accused by police, fell 43 percent

Teen Trends

The latest figures from StatCan come at a time when Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw has spoken out about a “guns for hire” trend, where organized crime networks recruit teenagers via encrypted apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal to commit violent acts across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Recruits are often required to film their attacks to secure payment.

One example of that is the case involving a 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man who are currently facing several charges in connection with a shooting outside the U.S. Consulate in Toronto late last month. Demkiw has alleged both suspects were hired guns.

The GTA is not the only area to see an uptick in youth crime, however. The youth crime rate in Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia is also on the rise, according to data released by Statistics Canada last month.

Quebec reached 3,364 youth crimes per 100,000 population in 2025, marking a 4.1 percent annual increase, while New Brunswick saw its youth crime rate drop by 5.5 percent down to 2,192 per 100,000 in the same period.

Both the overall Youth Crime Severity Index (CSI) and the Youth Violent CSI increased in B.C. last year relative to 2024. This means that while minor youth offences might be stabilizing, the youth crimes being committed are increasingly severe or violent.

A similar trend was reported in Alberta where despite an overall drop in the volume of youth offences, the province’s broader Violent Crime Severity Index remained elevated at 2.2 percent higher than the national baseline.