(Quebec) Crimes against the person jumped in the capital in 2021, a worrying trend that has also been observed in Montreal and the rest of the province. In Quebec, the police attribute this increase in particular to an outbreak of reports of domestic violence.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) counted 7,485 crimes against the person last year, which represents an increase of 16% compared to the average for 2015-2020. Crimes against the person include homicide, sexual assault, assault, threats, etc.
Assaults and threats have increased markedly, as have sexual assaults (from 296 in 2020 to 424 in 2021). The number of homicides remained stable.
“The increase in assault and threat offenses is mainly attributable to an increase in reports of situations of domestic violence,” said David Pelletier, spokesperson for the SPVQ, in an email.
The SPVQ sees this as a direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic where people have been faced with several episodes of confinement disrupting their daily lives, even their intra-family and/or marital situation.
David Pelletier, spokesperson for the SPVQ
The number of assaults has indeed jumped. We went from 3,483 events in 2020 to 4,060 in 2021. The number of cases of criminal harassment (from 569 to 747) and the number of cases of threats (1,369 to 1,577) also experienced marked increases.
The increase is particularly high compared to 2020, the year when crimes against the person were down in a context of confinements. But the figures for 2021 are also higher than those for 2019.
The SPVQ also believes that “a greater general awareness of the population means that victims are more inclined to denounce, file a complaint and thus go through with the legal process”.
At the Regroupement des centers pour femmes victims de violence conjugale, this increase in reports is not a surprise.
“We have actually seen in the requests for services and what the women have told us an increase in domestic violence and an increase in assaults experienced by women,” says Louise Riendeau, co-responsible for political files.
“And so I’m not surprised that the SPVQ comes to the same conclusion,” she adds, pointing out that some women found themselves caught “24 hours a day with their spouse.”
Fewer crimes than in 1990
This phenomenon of an increase in crimes against the person does not only affect Quebec. In the metropolis, they have jumped 17% in five years, according to figures from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal. They also reached a peak in the territory of the Sûreté du Québec in 2021.
This increase in the number of crimes against the person occurs in a context where crime has decreased significantly in the country since the 1990s. After reaching a peak in the country in 1991, the crime rate per 100,000 population has continued to decline until 2014, when they began to slowly rise again.
GRAPH PROVIDED BY STATISTICS CANADA
Crime rate per 100,000 population in Canada
“What is difficult to know is whether the current rise is the start of a longer-term rise. If we are at the beginning of an increase to reach peaks, then it is a little more worrying”, indicates Rémi Boivin, professor of criminology at the University of Montreal, who recalls that “if we compare with the 90s, crime today is at a very low level”.
The latest Statistics Canada data for 2021 will be known this summer and will give an idea of the trend. In recent years, crimes have been growing every year, except in 2020, marked by numerous confinements.
“Below five, you can’t really talk about a trend. At the top of five years, you can start talking about an upward trend,” notes Rémi Boivin.