Adding it up

Bruce Cheadle takes apart a recent study that questioned Statistics Canada’s crime data.

Newark asserts that "many of the most common conclusions that are drawn about crime in Canada are in fact incorrect or badly distorted." "Serious violent crime is increasing," the former executive officer of the Canadian Police Association flatly asserts.

While Newark’s report for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute was given prominent coverage by both the Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the wider academic community that relies on the data was not consulted. Their reviews are scathing. "It’s really badly done. It’s embarrassing, actually," said Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.