What Auto Theft Conviction Rates Tell Us About Our Justice System

Are Canadian courts overburdened by too much law?

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All the way back in March, I wrote about Canada’s car theft problem. In particular, I wanted to know whether the half-dozen or so anti-car theft operations launched by various police forces in Ontario had made any difference.

As I noted in that post, some stolen cars were, in fact, recovered and there were a couple of hundred arrests. But when we last looked, theft rates were still rising and, increasingly, were accompanied by violent carjackings and home invasions.

The good news is that, for whatever reason, the trend has since reversed. The graph below represents Toronto Police Services auto theft statistics up to the end of June 2024. You can clearly see that we’re moving in the right direction.

The larger problem back in March was that I couldn’t find evidence that any car theft charges had resulted in convictions - or even made it to trial. Worse still, court records revealed that more than a few of those arrested had subsequently dropped out of the system and disappeared.

I recently discovered some Statistics Canada data that covers exactly those concerns.