Toronto is experiencing a rise in youth violence. Here is what experts believe is driving it

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw, left to right, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Toronto Councillor Frances Nunziata stop for a moment of silence at a vigil in Toronto, on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. 8-year-old Jahvai Roy was struck and killed by a stray bullet over the weekend. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan

During a news conference announcing the arrest of a teen in the “senseless” fatal shooting of eight-year-old JahVai Roy last month, Toronto’s police chief addressed a concerning trend that is impacting communities across the city.

“We’ve been raising the alarm for the last couple of years around the rise of violence amongst young people,” Chief Myron Demkiw told reporters last week.

He pointed to a “dramatic rise” in the number of young people being arrested with illegal firearms and noted that more than a dozen young people had been charged in murder investigations in Toronto in 2025 alone.

The police chief made those comments less than a week before murder charges were announced against a 12-year-old in connection with the death of an unhoused man who was brutally beaten with a weapon while sleeping on a bench in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square.

Police said the boy was arrested alongside a 20-year-old man in connection with the attack, which was one in a spree of “unprovoked” assaults against vulnerable members of the community on the morning of Aug. 31.

At multiple events over the past week, Demkiw has spoken about the pattern of violent crimes involving youth.

“The trend of youth being involved in serious crimes is something we cannot ignore,” he said at a town hall on Monday.

He echoed a similar sentiment at a prayer walk in Toronto’s Lawrence Heights neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon.

“There is a time for action and that time is now. It is a call to action when you see what is happening with our young people, especially as it relates to gun violence,” he said.

“it is not just police. it is going to take multiple sectors coming together in a unique way.”

‘A lot of factors’

In his role as the Unit Commander of the Toronto Police Service’s Guns and Gangs Task Force, Insp. Paul Krawczyk has been following this disturbing trend closely.

In an interview with CP24.com this week, he said that while youth gun arrests are actually down year-over-year, the number has risen significantly over the past five.

“We’ve gone up quite a bit since 2020,” he said in an interview with CP24.com this week.

“So last year was a blip, like a very high rise, and we’re seeing a decrease from last year, but… from the early 2020s, like 2020 through to 2022, we’re looking at almost double year-to-date of how many arrests we had at that time.”

The Toronto Police Service said the city saw 59 youth firearm arrests in 2022, 78 in 2023, 128 in 2024, and 102 so far in 2025.

Krawczyk said some have speculated that young people are being used to commit crimes with more frequency because they see more leniency in the courts.

“So the Youth Criminal Justice Act, obviously there is maximum sentences that are a lot less than adult sentences, and they’re more likely to get bail... from a street gang perspective, you probably don’t have to pay them as much if you’re setting up a contract for them to do something,” he said.

“They’re probably more willing to do things that maybe someone who’s an adult might go, ‘No, I’m not going to do that. That’s too dangerous.’”

Things like technology and social media have also likely played a role in attracting younger gang members, Krawczyk said.

“It’s so embedded in everyone’s life now that everybody has a phone. It’s simple for people to communicate, give directions and everything using their phone,” he said.

“Then social media, of course… They’re showing the wads of money. They’re showing all the perks they get, but they don’t show the bad side. And so I think that probably comes into play as well.”

‘A tiny part of the puzzle’

Krawczyk said the police service’s role in handling gun and gang violence goes beyond enforcement. He noted that members of the gang prevention task force are wholly focused on steering young people away from gang activity.

“Their sole job is to either intercede in a gang member’s life and give them literally one-on-one counseling and assist them in getting the help they need and offering them supports, along with the city agencies and government agencies,” he said.

Another part of the job, he said, is getting young people into programs, such as robotics or sports, before their teenage years to provide them with opportunities that will help lead them down a more positive path.

Canada’s largest municipal police force also takes part in FOCUS, a collaboration between more than 190 community agencies to analyze the best ways to prevent violence and protect the city’s most vulnerable.

“We’re obviously having to react to the end result of all this, but the reality is we’re just a tiny part of the puzzle. Governments, school boards, community leaders, communities, residents, everybody has to play a part in this,” Krawczyk said.

“This isn’t something where a politician can get up and say we’re going to stop this tomorrow. This is going to be all hands on deck.”

‘Hope for a better future’

Youth advocate Stephen Mensah said at the core of the issue is a lack of employment opportunities for young people.

“I’ve always said that the best antidote to crime is a good job, and unfortunately, you know, we see a rise in youth unemployment, not just in Toronto but across Ontario and Canada, and that’s contributing to the rise in violence being disproportionately perpetrated by youth,” he told CP24.com this week.

“It’s really critical that we invest and focus on economic opportunities, providing meaningful and gainful employment to young people because that’s going to be the key way to get us out of this issue.”

He said young people turn to gangs because in some cases, that is the only work available to them.

“They just want an opportunity that provides them mentorship and skill development. They really want to go on the right path... the path of criminality and violence, it’s dangerous. It’s not a lifestyle that’s sustainable,” he said.

“They’re scared to do those things, but ultimately, they’re going do this because they need the money, and not just for themselves. To take care of their mom and dad, take care of their siblings, who are also facing poverty and precarity.”

‘It’s just getting younger and younger’

Mensah noted that it has been 20 years since “the summer of the gun,” a period in 2005 where gun and gang violence reached a crisis point in Toronto. Two decades later, he said, the same issues persist.

“Young people were also disproportionately victims and perpetrators back then,” he said.

“20 years later, we’re just seeing more heinous violence, more brazen violence, and it’s just getting younger and younger.”

He said the recent arrest of children as young as 11 and 12 in violent crimes in the region has rattled people across the city.

“These are the conversations that families are having at the dinner table… It’s bothering everyone,” Mensah said.

“I think we all need to just say to ourselves, ‘OK, what can we all do?’”

He said the circumstances that lead to youth violence must be addressed with long-term strategies.

“We always hear talk about bail and the Youth Criminal Justice Act and all these things, and I think my message has always been we cannot be quick to want to arrest our way out of this,” he said.

“We haven’t even done the common-sense things upstream to improve young peoples’ conditions.”