Understanding Justice System Statistics
Provincial, regional and local statistics about the justice system’s operations and progress are available online. The statistics represent activity in all three levels of court (B.C. Provincial, Supreme and Appeal courts) and both justice divisions (criminal and civil, which includes family justice), as well as adult custody and community corrections and B.C.’s prosecution service.
These data provide the opportunity to gain understanding of how the justice system works. They also provide a snapshot of the complex, daily challenges related to cost and delay. While significant progress has been made within the justice system in recent years, it is broadly recognized that reforms are needed.
Crime rates help to illustrate the challenges facing our justice system. Since 2004, crime in B.C. has declined year after year, and at a rate faster than any other province. In fact, B.C.’s crime rate is at an almost 40-year low.
Despite this remarkable trend, delays in cases getting into court have increased. People are being held awaiting trial much longer, increasing the remanded population. Most cases resolve quickly, but a small percentage are taking longer.
While the system’s basics – its integrity, its personnel and its ability to innovate – remain strong, indicators of the system’s performance and current health give a mixed and confusing message, particularly in the area of criminal justice. The Provincial Court adult and youth criminal caseload, for example, shows a decline over a 15-year period, although the most recent years have been relatively stable. The trend is similar in civil court, with the number of new civil (including family) cases declining over the last decade. Court sitting hours, which is the measure of the time judges and other adjudicators spend in courtrooms hearing cases, has also declined over this same time period.
Data from the Criminal Justice Branch – B.C.’s prosecution service - also shows a decline in the number of Reports to Crown Counsel received from investigating agencies from nearly 79,000 in 2009/10 to fewer than 71,000 in 2011/12. The number of concluded prosecutions has increased from about 67,000 to just over 73,000 over the same period.
The average daily count of adult inmates in provincial correction centres has increased steadily over previous fiscal years but in 2011/12 declined. On any given day in fiscal year 2011/12, there was an average daily count of 2,634 adult inmates. Individuals in provincial custody are on remand, in immigration detention, or serving a sentence of less than two years.
The number of individuals supervised in the community remains high. On any given day in fiscal year 2011/12, there was an average daily count of 23,844 people under supervision in B.C. These individuals are on bail awaiting trial or serving a community sentence, such as probation.
To delve deeper into data from recent fiscal years, the JusticeBC dashboards provide an opportunity for the public to review and understand some of the challenges being faced by the justice system. Please note that the dashboards are a beta version (a test version). As a work in progress, we anticipate expanding this resource to add new data and enhance the user experience over time.
You may enter the courts dashboards here.
You may enter the adult custody dashboards here.
You may enter the community corrections dashboards here.
The charge assessment dashboards are here and the concluded prosecution dashboard is here.
To access entire data extracts for courts, B.C. Corrections, and the prosecution service visit the “Data Catalogue” on DataBC.
