Saskatchewan youth crime rates lead provinces in many categories

Saskatchewan's young offenders lead the provinces in car thefts per capita and many other categories of offences, a new report from Statistics Canada says.

The report from the federal statistics agency released Wednesday looks at various typesof crime committed in 2014, the most recent year comparable figures were available.

It shows Saskatchewan was the province with the highest rate of motor vehicle theftscommitted by youth between the ages of 12 and 17.

In Saskatchewan that year, there were 472 youth auto thefts per 100,000 people. That's more than four times the national rate of 108 offences per 100,000.

Saskatchewan also led the provinces in:

• youth break and enters (1,286 per 100,000 or more than four times the Canada rate).
• youth mischief (2,292 per 100,000 or about four times the Canada rate).
• youth assault (1,697 per 100,000 or more than twice the Canada rate).
• youth administration of justice offences(3,292 per 100,000 or about six times the Canada rate.)

Administration of justice offences includes failure to comply with an order, failure to appear in court, breach of probation and related violations.