Without A Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey

Criminal victimization amongst the general population
Data from the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey shows that just under one fifth of
Canadians (15 years of age and older) reported being victims of crime on at least one
occasion. This is down from just over one quarter in 2004 (Perreault, 2015). The majority of
these crimes were non-violent (65%), and the majority of people who were victimized only
reported one incident. About four in ten of these victims (37%) reported being victimized
on more than one occasion. Common crimes that were reported include: theft of personal
property (22%), theft of household property (12%), sexual assault (10%), vandalism (9%),
break and enter (7%), theft of motor vehicle or parts (4%), and robbery (3%).
This data indicates that housed Canadians are much more likely to be victims of household
property crimes (including automobile-related theft and vandalism) than victims of violent
crime. This is important to consider when drawing comparisons between the housed
public and homeless youth, most of whom have few possessions and lack their own
household or automobile.
TABLE 20
Comparing criminal victimization:
homeless youth and the general public
CANADIAN GENERAL
SOCIAL SURVEY
STREET
YOUTH
Total Crime 19% 68.7%
Violent Crime 7.6% 59.6%
Property Crime 14.3% 57.9%
63%
of homeless youth
indicated they had been
victimized on more
than one occasion over
the past year
The percentages in Table 20 clearly show that street-involved youth from across Canada
are much more likely to be victims of crime than Canadians in general. Most striking are
differences in levels of violent victimization. Homeless and street-involved youth are
almost six times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population.
Importantly, among those who reported they were the victim of a crime over the past year,
63% indicated they had been victimized on more than one occasion.
WITHOUT A HOME: THE NATIONAL YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SURVEY
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