Online Sexual Offences Against Children Surge by Massive 220% in Past 6 Years

Online sex crimes against Canadian minors have surged by 220 percent over the last decade, based on newly released government statistics.

Child pornography incidents constitute a significant portion of online sex crimes involving Canadian children, with such occurrences quadrupling between 2014 and 2022, as per a report from Statistics Canada. The numbers have risen from 32 incidents per 100,000 children in 2014 to 125 incidents in 2022.

There have been 15,630 cases of online sexual offenses against children, with online luring making up the majority of the reports, according to StatCan. A total of 2,492 online sexual offenses against children took place in 2022.

Collectively, incidents of child pornography and online sex offenses have escalated from 50 incidents per 100,000 children in 2014 to 160 incidents by 2022, as outlined in the report.

The rise in child pornography was primarily driven by a swift increase in online cases, which accounted for almost three-quarters of all online child sexual exploitation offenses reported to the police between 2014 and 2022, according to the StatCan report. Seventy-two percent of the 45,816 reported incidents were linked to creating or distributing child pornography.

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Creation and distribution of child pornography increased by 33 percent between 2021 and 2022 alone, as stated in the report.

Out of more than 40,000 incidents, only 3,926 resulted in a charge being laid or recommended against an accused, the report revealed. Fifteen percent of reports of possessing or accessing child pornography led to charges, compared to just 6 percent of incidents involving creating or distributing such content.

Other Online Sexual Offenses

Following child pornography, online luring stands as the most reported offense against children and youth in Canada, according to the report.

“Some offenders might engage in online communications with a child to arrange an in-person meeting,” Ms. Savage wrote. “However, many child luring offenders do not meet their victims offline, and in these cases, the sexual offense is committed entirely online.”

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection noted an 815 percent increase in reports of online luring through its national tip line between 2018 and 2022. Police data indicated a 53 percent rise in luring incidents during the same period.

Aside from pornography, luring accounted for 75 percent of online sexual offenses against children in 2022, with the rate of luring increasing by 69 percent between 2014 and 2022, from 15 incidents per 100,000 children and youth in 2014 to 26 incidents per 100,000 in 2022.

The majority of victims—84 percent—were girls, with 82 percent of those victimized being between the ages of 12 and 17, and the average age being 13.

Criminal courts in Canada processed over 30,000 charges related to online sexual offences against children from April 2014 to March 2021, the report stated. Thirty-four percent of charges laid resulted in a guilty verdict, and 63 percent were stayed, withdrawn, dismissed, or discharged, with 78 percent of guilty verdicts leading to jail time.

Forty-four percent of charges in youth court during the same period ended in a guilty finding, with 62 percent receiving probation.

Offenders and Victims

Boys and men comprised the vast majority of those accused of online sexual offenses against children from 2014 to 2022, according to the report. Ninety-seven percent of invitations to sexual touching, 96 percent of luring incidents, and 90 percent of reports of possessing or accessing child pornography involved a male.

Teens were most likely to be both victims and perpetrators of non-consensual distribution of intimate images, with youth aged 12 to 17 accounting for 97 percent of victims, of whom 86 percent were girls.

Accused of this offense tended to be close in age to the victim, with the median age being 15 for boys and 14 for girls, the report highlighted, noting that one-quarter of perpetrators were female.

“Most victims of this offence knew their perpetrator,” Ms. Savage stated, with the most common accused-victim relationships from 2015 to 2022 being “casual acquaintances,” accounting for 33 percent of all cases.

Twenty-eight percent involved current or former dating partners, 21 percent were friends, and 14 percent were victimized by a stranger.