"The majority of fraud cases in Ontario have ended with charges being stayed or withdrawn since 2020 because of COVID-19-related backlogs, the growing complexity of frauds, and a lack of resources in the province's criminal justice system, according to the Ontario Crown Attorneys' Association. When there aren't enough resources, Crowns are put in the unenviable position of having to prioritize, said Lesley Pasquino, the association's president."
"It's not something that we want to do; every criminal offence has an impact on someone. CBC News reviewed the latest three years of fraud statistics released since its investigative series The Cost of Fraud revealed in 2023 that only a fraction of fraud cases were making it through Ontario's justice system. New numbers from Statistics Canada show the problem has only gotten worse since then, and have some experts pointing to alternative solutions."
"The number of fraud incidents (reports to police that aren't unfounded) each year continues to rise, and has more than doubled the annual total from a decade ago in Ontario jumping from just over 30,300 incidents in 2014 to more than 71,700 in 2024. Meanwhile, police are completing fraud investigations by laying a charge for less than 10 per cent of the incidents reported each year. And even when there are charges, more than half of those cases are being tossed in the court system."
"In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the latest for which data is available, 58 per cent of fraud cases ended with the charges being stayed or withdrawn, compared to 46 per cent a decade earlier, when guilty decisions still made up the majority of outcomes in Ontario. In the interim, fraud reports skyrocketed and the pandemic created case backlogs across the system."
Fraud incidents in Ontario more than doubled over a decade, rising from just over 30,300 reports in 2014 to more than 71,700 in 2024. Police lay charges in fewer than 10% of reported fraud incidents. When charges are laid, a growing share are stayed or withdrawn — 58% in 2023–2024, up from 46% a decade earlier — meaning guilty findings no longer represent the majority of outcomes. Pandemic-caused court backlogs, increasing fraud complexity, and chronic resource shortages in the criminal-justice system have forced Crown prosecutors to prioritize cases, contributing to the high rate of discontinued prosecutions.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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