Teenagers are the most common victims of violent crime

The age group with the highest representation for crime resulting in bodily harm is between 12 and 17 years old.

It would come as a surprise to many to learn that the most common victim of violent crime is under 18 years of age, StatsCanada's 2017 report on violent crimes is helpfully broken down by both age and gender, which allows for an insightful view on how different groups are affected by what crimes. These statistics raise some concerning questions regarding which age group is most represented in this type of crime.



The data here shows that women between the ages of 12 and 17 are the most likely to report being victims of violent crime, regardless of gender. Further examination of the data reveals exactly where this lead come from.



Breaking down the data further, it can be seen that the cause for the spike in victimization for women aged 12 to 17 is due to sexual assault. This age group is so grossly over represented due to the general vulnerability and presence of authority figures, both schools and sports groups are major points of concern for these types of crimes. There has been a notable increase in sexual assault reports since 2017. This is likely due to the #MeToo movement that began in response to the Weinstein sexual assault cases.



This graph here shows where young males are being over represented, though not to a severe degree. Young men are more likely to be involved in physical altercations with each other, such as schoolyard fights, which leads to both being charged with assault.

With these crime types combined this youthful age group far overshadows that on any other group, despite being well below the age of majority.

Crime Resulting in Bodily Harm - Update 2

Lead

The percentage difference for crimes resulting in bodily harm is much more equal between men and women than expected.

Excel Workbook link and explanation

I have linked to my Excel Workbook here

The yellow highlights are the totals of each category and the percentages are of the total violations. Each value below the category total is the percentage of that category.

Contrary to the common public narrative, women are only 5% more likely to be the victim of a violent crime. There is further divide in gender disparity in both the sexual assault category and assault category that evens out for the overall total.

Original datasheet link

I have linked the Original Datasheet here

News story/study link and brief summary


A Global News report here speaks to the common narrative I referred to earlier. Though this story is from 2018 and my data is from 2017, men are in fact much more likely to be victims of assault, and thus more likely to be killed. This story speaks as though women are dying in droves while men live worry free, when it is almost the opposite.

The story references 2016 statistics in which 148 women were the victims of homicide, without comparing it to the number of male victims. This is relevant because the data I have found is in direct opposition to the public narrative of violence in society and whom it affects.

Crime Resulting in Bodily Harm

1. What dataset will you use for your final report?

Victims of police-reported violent crime and traffic offences causing bodily harm or death, by type of offence and sex and age group of victim.

2. Describe the dataset. What kind of data does it contain?

The dataset contains information regarding bodily harm or death caused by violent crime and traffic offences, broken down by sex and age group. The data also categories by crimes, which will allow for in depth examination of crimes against age and sex groups.

3. Is there anything about your data you don't understand?

I understand the data very well, the information is clear and concise. The only point of confusion I had was the category labeled 'Sexual Violations against children', it included statistics for persons over 18, though I figured that this was due to either occurrences on birthdays or delayed reports.

4. what are some questions you hope to answer with your data? list at least three.

What age/sex group is the most commonly targeted?

What crime is most often committed against this group?

What age/sex group is the least commonly targeted?

What is the most common offence resulting in bodily harm?

What is the most common crime against males?

What is the most common crime against females?

worst graph

A strong contender for the worst graph competition, the confusing title strips this graph of any possible context to the reader. The only chance of disseminating the data is to read the website itself, which only serves to inform that this graph is meant to chart the guesses of the height and weight of a woman nicknamed 'The Rotund' made by readers of the blog.

Arrow 1: The axis lines have no context. By reading the site it can be confirmed that the vertical axis is height in inches, and the horizontal axis is weight in pounds. The vertical axis is in increments of 3.4. Although it is even it still has an odd increment to use.

Arrow 2: The bars themselves are 'helpfully' labeled, but black lettering against a dark blue background is difficult to read. Not to mention that the distance between the labels makes them appear to be one long number.

Arrow 3: A legend has been added to clarify the colour coded data, but with no text whatsoever to give context. Reading the website does not clarify what the colours mean either.

Arrow 4: The white dot beneath 'Actual Stats' is meant to mark the point of where the subject's actual height and weight are present on the graph. The positioning, however, appears to be between two existing bars and the application of the third dimension makes it difficult to see exactly where it lies.

Arrow 5: The use of the third dimension alone adds no value whatsoever to the information. As stated above it only serves to confuse the reader further.

The use of a bar graph in general is a poor choice for this topic. Bar graphs are meant to show values and the differences over time. A scatter plot graph would represent the information much clearer and give the reader a better sense of what the average guesses were.