2. Methodology

2.1 Cost categories

This study separates the costs of crime into three categories:

  1. Criminal justice system costs: costs of delivering police services, court services, prosecution services, legal aid and correctional services, and Criminal Code Review Boards;Footnote 3
  2. Costs to direct victims of crime: medical costs, lost productivity, pain and suffering, loss of life, and other costs (stolen, damaged, or destroyed property, burglar alarm installation costs, and restraining or protection order); and,
  3. Third-partyFootnote 4 costs: employer losses, operating costs of social services, loss of affection and enjoyment to the family, loss of productivity (value of lost productivity of friends/neighbours/family members, value of lost productivity of co-workers), and other costs (family medical service costs, funeral service costs, and family counselling costs).

2.2 Estimation

Each cost item uses a unique estimating method. The methods used mostly follow those presented in Hoddenbagh et al. (Hoddenbagh, Zhang, & McDonald, 2014), with some adaptations. Brief explanations of these methods are presented in Sections 3 and 4 of this report. To avoid extreme values (minimum or maximum) for estimating a cost, this study uses the most conservative estimate. Moreover, numbers in the tables and calculations may not up stated totals due to rounding.

Data sources for this study include the 2014 Police Administration Survey, the 2013–14 and 2014–15 Integrated Criminal Court Survey (ICCS), the 2014 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization), and various government and academic publications.

Where possible, this study produces estimates using national data and separates them by sexFootnote 5 to support a gender-based analysis of programs, policies, and legislation. This study also estimates the costs of correctional services separately for adult and youth offenders and by type of offence. These include crimes against the person, crimes against property, administration of justice, other Criminal Code offences, Criminal Code traffic offences, and other federal statutes.

2.3 Data limitations

Data limitations are the greatest challenge in costing studies. A lack of data across topics and jurisdictions limits the possibilities and accuracy of costing analysis. For example, although national estimates are produced where possible, in some cases data were not available for all provinces and territories. For instance, at the time that this report was prepared, victimization data from the 2014 General Social Survey were not available for the territories. Additionally, while this study makes every effort to estimate costs separately by sex, disaggregated data were not always available.Footnote 6