1. Introduction

Crime in Canada is a costly social phenomenon that affects everyone. The effects of crime are far-reaching and can include:

While some of these costs are tangible and more easily counted (e.g., actual dollars spent by an institution), others are intangible and more difficult to measure (e.g., pain and suffering). An important body of work has however, attempted to translate the intangible impacts of crime into economic losses or costs.Footnote 1 Interpreting the impacts of crime in this way can help policy makers to budget and allocate resources more effectively. It can also help to develop evidence-based strategies for crime-prevention that weigh the costs of crime against the costs of social interventions. Such strategies could include, for example, investing in social programs that prevent and reduce the effect of crime on people, businesses, institutions, and the Canadian economy.Footnote 2

This study estimates the costs of crime in Canada in 2014. It builds on an earlier study (Zhang, Costs of Crime in Canada, 2008, 2011) by the Department of Justice Canada, using more recent data and an expanded costing methodology (Hoddenbagh, Zhang, & McDonald, 2014). Costs are presented as a total, as for three types categories of crime-related costs: criminal justice system costs, costs to direct victims of crime, and third-party costs.