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statistics on domestic violence in Canada
How big is the problem?
Twenty-nine percent women have been subjected to violence at
the hands of a marital partner
(including common-law) at some point in the relationship:
- 16% kicked, hit, beaten, choked, gun/knife, sexual assault
- 11% pushed, shoved, slapped
- 2% threats, something thrown
A look at
338,000 incidents of spousal assault in 1999 revealed that:
- 85% were females victimized by male spouse
- 15% were males victimized by female spouse
We see the "tip of the iceberg":
- 77% of women who left their partner stayed with friends
or relatives
- 13% stayed in shelters
- 8% moved into a place on their own
- 2% stayed in a hotel
- 57% of women who were injured, 51% of women who were assaulted
more than 10 times, and almost half of all abused women who feared
for their lives did not call police for protection or help in
ending the violence
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Spousal Homicide
- 80% of spousal
homicides are women killed by their husbands
- 20% of spousal
homicides are men killed by their wives
- Women separated
from their partners are 26 times more likely than their married
counterparts to be killed by a spouse
- Women in
common-law relationships are eight times more likely to be killed
than are women who are married
- The pattern
is similar for men who are killed by their partners, although
the rates of homicide for men are much lower
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Stalking
- 80% of victims
are women Ð majority stalked by ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends, ex-spouses
- 20% of stalking
victims are men Ð majority stalked by acquaintances, relatively
few stalked by ex-wives or ex-girlfriends
- 88% of accused
stalkers are men
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Risk Factors
- Alcohol abuse
- Young age
of the couple (18 to 24)
- Living in
common-law relationship
- Chronic unemployment
for the male
- Low income
(less than $15,000)
- Witnessing
violence as a child (both men and women)
- Presence
of emotional abuse is the greatest predictor of wife assault
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Effects on
Children
- Increased
risk of behavioral and development problems
- Greater risk
of becoming victims and perpetrators of violence
- More likely
to be sexually abused
- 39% of violent
marriages had children who witnessed violence directed against
their mothers - equivalent to 1 million children
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Elder Abuse
- Police data
indicate that older adults were victims in 2% of violent crimes
reported to police
- Family members
were involved in 20% of these violent crimes:
• Older men are most often victimized by children (59%)
• Older women are most often victimized by spouse (42%),
then children (37%)
• Sons responsible for 84% of the violent crime
• Daughters responsible for 16%
- Like spousal
assault and child abuse, elder abuse is likely underreported
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Interesting
Trends
- Like the
overall crime rate, spousal assaults reported to the police have
decreased by 7% from 1993 to 1996
- During this
same period the number of male victims increased by 98 cases or
6%
- The number
of female victims, while still eight times higher than male victims,
decreased by 9%
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