The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the most significant gaps in the Canadian criminal statistics. It seems fairly obvious that in order to achieve this end, an answer has first to be given to the question, “What are the objectives of criminal statistics?” This sets the stage for working out, in far more specific terms, why the collection of statistics is undertaken, what information is sought, and what use is to be made of the findings, and by whom.
The term “criminal statistics” is used very broadly to refer to all material collected regularly which gives information on any of the various phases of the law-enforcement process. Criminal statistics are an essential tool of administration and social planning for crime reduction. The basic postulate of this paper can be summarized as follows: Quantitative data obtained from the normal flow of activities of law-enforcement agencies at the various phases of the law-enforcement process become more meaningful when related to each other.