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Fathers Battling Injustice
The stats
Posted By: Athena In Response To: Baby killings double: 23 in '98 (Susan)
Date: Saturday, 9 October 1999, at 7:09 a.m.
Most infant murders committed by a parent Parents were involved in most infant homicides. Eighteen of the 23 victims under the age of one last year were killed by a parent, compared with only 8 out of 13 the year before. Eleven of these infants were killed by the father, six by the mother and in one case, both parents were involved.
Among the five remaining cases, one child was killed by a babysitter and one by a stranger. The assailants were not known in the three other cases.
In recent years, most provinces have legislated mandatory coroner inquests into the deaths of young children. Some of the increase in infant homicides reported by police could be due to more accurate reporting as a result of these inquests.
Spousal homicides down for the seventh straight year Spousal homicides, including both husbands and wives, have gradually declined from more than 100 each year during the early 1990s to 70 in 1998. Four out of every five victims of spousal homicide in 1998 were female. (For the purpose of this report, spouses included individuals who were married or in a common-law relationship, as well as those who were separated or divorced.)
In 1998, 57 women were killed by a current spouse or an ex-spouse. A further 10 women were killed by a boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend. In all, slightly more than half of all female homicide victims were killed by someone with whom they had an intimate relationship.
Of the 13 men killed by a spouse last year, 12 were killed by a current spouse and one individual was separated. Six in 10 incidents of spousal homicides involved a history of domestic violence between the accused and the victim, of which police were aware.
Overall, homicides are committed primarily by someone known to the victim. In 1998, of the 431 homicides solved by the police, 45% of victims were killed by an acquaintance, 40% by a family member and 15% by a stranger. The proportion of homicides committed by a stranger has remained relatively stable during the past 10 years. Of the 65 victims killed by a stranger in 1998, over half (35) occurred as the result of a crime in progress, most often robbery and assault.
Most multiple-victim homicides family related In 1998, there were 24 cases of homicides involving multiple victims, down from 36 the year before. Twenty of these incidents involved two victims, while the remaining four incidents each involved three victims.
In Canada, most multiple-victim homicides are family related and many culminate in the suicide of the accused. Of the 18 incidents solved by police involving multiple victims in 1998, 12 were family related. Among these, the accused committed suicide in five.
One in seven homicides drug related Police reported that one in seven homicides was drug related in 1998, the largest proportion since data were first collected in 1991. Of the 77 victims of drug-related homicides, police reported that 34 were drug dealers.
In addition, seven known prostitutes were killed while plying their trade, up from four in 1997. In all likelihood, these numbers could be higher, as police report only those incidents in which they were certain that the victim was killed while engaging in prostitution-related activities.
Available on CANSIM: matrices 315, 316, 319 and tables 00160402 to 00160404.
Juristat: Homicide in Canada, 1998, vol. 19, no. 10 (85-002-XPE, $10/$93; 85-002-XIE, $8/$70) is now available.
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