Slide 5 provides an overview of the ages of victims of police-reported other sexual offences committed against children. While females are more likely than males to be victims, the distribution of the victim's age is different from what we saw on slide 4 for sexual assaults. While the number of incidents for boys remains relatively stable regardless of age, the risk of victimization for girls peaked at age 13.
The next three slides show 2009 police-reported data on the relationship between victims and those accused of committing a sexual offence against a child. As you will see, as children age, the accused-victim relationship generally shifts from parents and other family members being the most frequent perpetrators to acquaintances being the most frequent.
Slide 6 focuses on children aged 0-5 years. Here we see that parents and other family members comprise the majority of accused persons. In 2009, almost 6 in 10 boys and close to 7 in 10 girls were victimized by a family member.
On slide 7 we look at the accused-victim relationship for reported sex offences involving children 6 to 11 years old. As you can see, while boys and girls in this age range were still most likely to be victimized by a parent or other family member, the proportions were less than those for younger children. In contrast, 6- to 11-year-olds, particularly boys, were more likely than younger children to be victimized by an acquaintance. In other words, the relationship is beginning to shift from family members to acquaintances.
Slide 8 shows the accused-victim relationship for police-reported sex offences involving children 12 to 17 years old. Here we see an even greater drop in the proportion of children who were victimized by a family member and an increase in those victimized by acquaintances and strangers. These data also show that teenage boys are about three times more likely than teenage girls to be victimized by an authority figure such as a teacher or a coach.
During the teenage years we also see a substantial increase in the proportion of sexual victimizations committed by strangers to about 10% for boys and 14% for girls.
The number of sexual assault and other sexual offence cases completed in adult criminal courts in Canada has remained relatively stable during the last five years. In 2008-2009, there were approximately 7,400 sexual assault charges in Canada, which were contained in approximately 5,000 court cases.
Sexual assault data collected from criminal courts does not permit us to differentiate between those committed against children and youth and those committed against adults. As a result, it is not possible to identify the ages of the victims in sexual assault cases using data collected from adult criminal courts. However, we know from police-reported data that approximately half of sexual assaults committed in Canada in 2009 were committed against children. The vast majority of these were sexual assaults level 1.
In 2008-2009, there were approximately 7,200 charges of other sexual offences, contained in approximately 3,300 court cases.
Cases involving child sexual offences often include charges for other offences as well. Slide 10 shows the proportion of guilty findings for charges of both sexual assault and other sexual offences, regardless of whether this was the most serious offence in the case.
In 2008-2009, 32% of cases contained a charge of sexual assault and 48% of cases contained a charge of other sexual offences resulting in a finding of guilt. These proportions have remained relatively stable since 2000-2001.
Slide 11 shows the difference in the types of sentences imposed for cases of sexual assault. In 2008-2009, custody was the most serious sentence imposed in approximately 55% of cases involving sexual assault. This represents a slight increase from the year prior. While the proportion of conditional sentencing has remained relatively stable since 2000-2001, the use of probation has been decreasing.
As we can see from the next slide, most custody sentences imposed in cases with a guilty sexual assault charge were for a term longer than three months but less than two years. The median length of custody for these cases was approximately one year.
Since 2000-2001, between 23% and 27% of cases with guilty sexual assault charges involved sentencing to custody for two years or more—which is federal custody—compared with only 4% of adult guilty cases in general. These longer custody lengths may indicate the seriousness with which the courts treat these cases.
Slide 13 shows the difference in the types of sentences imposed for cases of other sexual offences. In 2008-2009, custody was the most serious sentence imposed in approximately 65% of cases involving other sexual offences. This is an increase over the year prior and a continuation of the upward trend seen since 2003-2004. The use of probation has declined since 2003-2004, and in 2008-2009 it was the most serious sentence in approximately 18% of cases involving other sexual offences. The use of conditional sentencing has also decreased over the last four years.
On slide 14 we see that the distribution of custody sentences for other sexual offences has been changing since 2005. There has been an increase in the use of custody with a term of three months or less and a decrease in the use of custody of longer than three months but less than two years. This change began in 2005 and coincides with the introduction of mandatory minimum penalties for several of the offences in this category.
Once again, thank you for the opportunity to present to the committee. This ends my presentation.