Crime in British Columbia

Archived Topic Box from the 2007 Seventh Annual Benchmark Report

British Columbia has had consistently poor performance on two of the five indicators in the social condition index. The BC Progress Board released reports on crime and social condition in 2006 to help explain this performance and make suggestions for improvement. The crime report, Reducing Crime and Improving Criminal Justice in British Columbia: Recommendations for Change, is discussed below and the social condition report is discussed opposite performance indicator 22. The reports are available on our website.

In 1995, BC had one of the highest rates of crime in Canada. However, crime rates in the province have been improving overall and for each of the major crime categories: violent crime; property crime; and other crimes. British Columbia's relative position within Canada is improving, but it still lags behind the Canadian crime rate for all major categories.

There are four primary causes of crime in BC:
(i) Widespread substance abuse (both drugs and alcohol) and the activities of the criminal business organizations involved in the illegal drug trade;
(ii) Defective and/or deficient childhood development practices;
(iii) Mental disorder, including cognitive impairments such as brain injuries and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder; and,
(iv) The impoverished and unstable lifestyles experienced by many individuals living in inner urban areas, many of whom are chronic, repeat offenders addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Of all the problems and challenges facing the criminal justice system in the province, three primary clusters stand out:
(i) The apparent failure of the criminal justice apparatus to ensure that offenders face the consequences of their behaviour;
(ii) A failure to guarantee the speedy and fair disposition of cases once an offender is identified, to ensure that justice is swift, sure and effective; and,
(iii) The problem of inter-agency and interministry barriers and disorganization.

If these challenges can be addressed successfully there will be a major and positive impact upon the criminal justice system and, in all probability, eventually upon the rates of crime and victimization in the province. To this end, this report contains five recommendations:
(i) The provincial government should create, in partnership with the federal and municipal governments, a Criminal Justice Task Force or Commission to address the core issues and challenges facing the provincial criminal justice system, especially the effective coordination of the activities of the relevant government ministries;
(ii) The problem of the illegal trade in drugs must be addressed in a clear and consistent manner;
(iii) The collateral effects of the illegal drug trade should be addressed without further delay;
(iv) The provincial government should immediately review the need for strengthened services to address childhood development issues and move quickly to introduce those services; and,
(v) The provincial government should review the organization and functions of law enforcement agencies in the province.