Statistics Canada - Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics
Child / Youth Murder / Homicide Statistics in Canada
According to Statistics Canada, the Government of Canada's statistics agency, when a child is murdered in Canada, it's usually at the hands of a relative, not a stranger.
Family members were found guilty in almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of the 1,990 solved cases of children and youth homicides in Canada between 1974 and 1999, according to Statistics Canada. Twenty-seven per cent of the murders were committed by acquaintances, and only 10 per cent by strangers.
When it comes to parents killing their own children, the number of mothers accused almost equals the number of fathers accused. Between 1974 and 2000, 460 fathers and stepfathers were accused of killing their children, compared to 400 mothers and stepmothers, according to Statistics Canada.
2003
There were 33 homicides committed against children under the age of 12 in 2003, the lowest number in over 25 years. Of these victims, 14 (or 42%) were under one year of age.
Of the 27 solved homicides against children, 23 were killed by a parent: 9 by a father, 4 by a step-father, 10 by a mother and 1 by a step-mother (in one incident, both parents were accused). In addition, 2 children were killed by their day-care provider and 2 by a stranger.
Considering Canada's population of 33 million people, there are, thankfully, very few children murdered.
2006
In 2006, there were 60 homicides committed against children and youth under the age of 18 across Canada.
36 of these homicides of children and youth were committed by family members in 2006, compared to 16 committed by non-family members (including acquaintances and friends) . The remaining 8 child homicides were unsolved.
With few exceptions, the rate of child and youth homicides perpetrated by family members has been consistently higher than the rate committed by non-family members (Chart 4.4). The family rate decreased in 2005 to just over 3 homicides per million children and youth, the lowest rate in 33 years.
Notes: Excludes homicides for
which police reported the accused-victim relationship as unknown. Rates
are calculated per million children and youth (0 to 17 year olds) using
population estimates provided by Statistics Canada, Census and
Demographic Statistics, Demography Division.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice
Statistics, Homicide Survey.
Parents responsible for most family-related homicides against children and youth
The majority of family perpetrated homicides against children under 18 years of age are committed by parents. Over the past three decades (1977 to 2006), 90% of family-related homicide victims under the age of 18 were killed by a parent (includes step and adopted parents but excludes other "social" parents such as foster parents).
Note the headline below provide by Statistics Canada which states that fathers are responsible for more child murders than mothers. Both numbers are very low. We looked into the statistics. We found that the rate of murders committed by biological mothers and biological fathers are nearly identical and very low number considering the total population of children.
Statistics Canada included step fathers in the 'fathers' statistics while not including step-mothers in the 'mother ' statistics. We attribute this disprepancy to feminist influence whish is prevalent in the agencies of the Government of Canada. Trying to prove that men are more violent to children than women is a key strategy to support funding of women's groups across Canada while the Goverment of Canada doesn't fund any men's groups.
Statistics Canada states:
Between 1997 and 2006, 56% of children killed by a family member were killed by their fathers ( both biological and step-fathers), 33% by their biological mothers, and the remaining 10% by other family members including step-mothers, siblings, grandparents, cousins or other extended family.
Notes: Percentages may not add up
to 100% due to rounding. Based upon a subset consisting of those victims
who were killed by one person, representing 95% of the total number of
family-related homicides against children and youth from 1997 to 2006.
Mothers and fathers include biological, step, adoptive and foster
parents. ???Other family??? includes siblings, cousins and any other family
member related to the victim by blood, marriage or adoption.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice
Statistics, Homicide Survey.
Infants are at greatest risk of homicide by a family member
Between 1997 and 2006, about one-quarter (26%) of children and youth killed by a family member were infants (under the age of one year). Baby boys tend to be at somewhat greater risk than baby girls. During the most recent 10-year period, the rate of baby boys killed by a family member averaged 35 per million male infants, compared to 27 per million female infants (Chart 4.6).
Note: Rates are calculated per
million children and youth (0 to 17 year olds) according to the
applicable age group and sex category using population estimates
provided by Statistics Canada, Census and Demographic Statistics,
Demography Division.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice
Statistics, Homicide Survey.
The methods used in family-related homicides against children under the age of 18 varied depending on the age of the victim (Table 4.5). Family members who kill young children (0 to 6 years of age) are most likely to use physical force (e.g. strangulation, beating or Shaken Baby Syndrome). Older children and youth (7 to 17 years of age) are most likely to be killed with a weapon (e.g. knife or firearm).
Boy, 8, found dead; mom faces charge
Canadian Press, (various newspapers across Canada, including the Toronto Star) Aug. 16, 2006.
ISLE LA MOTTE, Vt. A Montreal mother recovering from alleged self-inflicted wounds will be charged in the coming days with murdering her 8-year-old son, whose body was found in Lake Champlain, a Vermont state attorney said today.
I am going to prepare a charge of first-degree murder, Grand Isle States Attorney David Miller said in a telephone interview. Read More ..
Yeeda Topham killed her baby son but walks free
Australian Associated Press
December 05,
2008
A WOMAN who killed her infant son by jumping with him from the eighth floor of a city apartment block has walked free after being convicted of manslaughter.
Yeeda Topham, 40, of Roleystone near Perth, had pleaded guilty in the West Australian Supreme Court to a charge of unlawfully killing 21-month-old James Topham on November 5 last year. Read More ..
Firefighters Find Baby's Body In Washing Machine
Fire Officials Claim Fire Intentionally Set
NBC4-TV, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
LOS ANGELES, USA -- Murder charges are expected to be filed against a woman whose infant son's body was found in a washing machine after firefighters doused what they say was an intentionally set fire, authorities said Tuesday.
Latunga Starks, 32, was taken into custody last night, according to the Sheriff's Department Web site.
Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Dennis Shirey identified the mother and her nearly 3-month-old son, Michael Kelvin Thompson.
Mother found guilty of drowning autistic daughter
The Toronto Star, By Peter Small, Courts Bureau, March 01, 2008
Xuan (Linda) Peng has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the drowning death of her 4-year-old autistic daughter Scarlett in a bathtub in the family home.
A Superior Court jury returned its verdict Saturday morning after two days of deliberations.
Scarlett Chen was discovered unconscious by her distraught father David Chen in the tub on the second floor of the family's townhouse on Rosebank Dr., near Markham Rd. and Sheppard Ave. E. on July 12, 2004.
Peng told police that she had put their daughter down for a nap in the adjoining bedroom, and had no idea she had climbed into the bathtub, which the woman had filled with water to clean some kitchen utensils.
However, seven months later, homicide detectives charged the 36-year-old Chinese immigrant with first-degree murder. The charges were later reduced to second-degree murder. Read More ..
Woman held in beating deaths of sons
Associated Press, Globe and Mail, Tuesday, May. 13, 2003, Page A15
TYLER, TEX. -- A woman accused of fatally beating two of her sons with rocks spent Mother's Day sobbing and muttering in a jail cell.
Deanna LaJune Laney, 38, remained on suicide watch yesterday at Smith County Jail, where she was held in lieu of a $3-million (U.S.) bond on capital-murder and aggravated-assault charges.
Ms. Laney is accused of killing Joshua Laney, 8, and Luke Laney, 6, and injuring their 14-month-old brother, Aaron. The toddler remained in critical condition yesterday at a Dallas Hospital.
In a call to emergency workers early Saturday, Ms. Laney reported that she had just "bashed their heads in with a rock," Sheriff J. B. Smith said. Read More ..
Mother Shoots father, has his Baby and then kills the Baby and Herself
Investigation into the Death of Zachary Andrew Turner (18 July 2002 to 18 August 2003)
Zachary Turner, a 13 months old baby, died at the hands of his fugitive mother, Dr. Shirley Turner, who killed him and then committed suicide on August 18, 2003.
Turner was facing extradition to the United States to stand trial for the 2001 murder of Dr. Andrew Bagby, Zachary's father.
28-year-old Dr. Andrew Bagby was found shot to death in Keystone State Park, 55 kilometres northeast of Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
Turner fled to Newfoundland, Canada where Zachary was born. She was out on bail against the wishes of U.S. authorities at the time of Zachary's death. Read More ..
Canada's largest national newspaper
Some mothers have had enough hugs
The Globe and Mail
October 6, 2006
Toronto - As a female friend of Frances Elaine Campione put it, this after Ms. Campione was charged on Wednesday with murder in the death of her two young children, "That mother needs a hug."
In that line, widely repeated in Toronto and national media outlets, is a telling clue to what is so wrong with much of what happens both in the nation's family courts and in its child-protection system -- the pervasive view of the female of the species as constantly nurturing (except, you know, when she allegedly kills) and as in need of constant nurture (hugs all 'round, no matter what).
For the record, Ms. Campione was arrested two days ago after she phoned 911 to report that there were two dead children inside her Barrie, Ont., apartment, and shortly after, didn't police arrive to find the bodies of her own little girls, one-year-old Sophia and three-year-old Serena.
She and her estranged husband Leo were reportedly in the throes of a nasty custody battle, with Mr. Campione accused of assaulting his wife and the older child, and Ms. Campione allegedly alarmed, and/or depressed, at the prospect of losing that fight.
And The Globe has confirmed that involved with the family was the Children's Aid Society of Simcoe County. At the moment, the nature of that involvement is unknown -- except as it has been reported by neighbours who saw social workers at the apartment and say that, for a time recently, the girls lived with their paternal grandparents.
Ontario woman convicted of son's starvation death granted full parole
Canadian Press
Wednesday, May. 22, 2002
KINGSTON, Ont. (CP) -- An Ontario woman who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in one of Canada's stiffest penalties for child abuse will be released on full parole after serving less than half her term.
Lorelei Turner, 38, and her husband Steven were convicted of manslaughter in July 1995 for beating and starving their three-year-old son John to death in a case that horrified Canadians who followed the trial.
But on Wednesday, a panel of the National Parole Board in this eastern Ontario city ruled Turner will be released but placed on probation until July 2011.
Until then, she must remain within 25 kilometres of her residence, is not allowed unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, and must continue to receive counselling.
"The board would have looked at the risk and obviously found a low risk to reoffend," Carol Sparling of the National Parole Board said Wednesday.
Woman accused of throwing son off Oregon bridge
The Associated Press, U.S.A., November 4, 2014
NEWPORT, Ore. -- A woman who said she threw her 6-year-old son off a historic bridge on the Oregon coast was arrested after the boy's body was found in the bay, police said.
Police and firefighters in the coastal city of Newport, Lincoln County deputies and the Coast Guard searched the bay with boats and a helicopter after Jillian Meredith McCabe, 34, of Seal Rock called 911 at 6:25 p.m. Monday to report throwing her son off the Yaquina Bay Bridge.
The boy's body was found at 10:23 p.m. in the bay after it was spotted near the Embarcadero Resort, police said.
Affair led to mother murdering her own kids
Days after buying another woman Valentine's Day flowers, a Sydney father came home to find a trail of blood leading him to the bodies of his two young children lying next to their mother, a court has been told.
Australian Associated Press
Aug 24 2009
The woman had given the couple's three-year-old daughter and four-year-old son rat poison and an unidentified pink liquid before smothering them and killing them, court papers said.
She then tried to take her own life, the NSW Supreme Court was told.
Doctors agree the mother, from Canley Heights in Sydney's west, was suffering from "major depression" when she poisoned her children on February 19 last year.
She has pleaded not guilty to the two murders by reason of mental illness.
As her judge-alone trial began, the mother's lawyer told Justice Clifton Hoeben his client didn't think life was worth living after learning about her husband's affair.
New Brunswick woman ruled responsible in burning of baby's body
ST. STEPHEN, N.B. - A New Brunswick judge says a woman who burned and dismembered her newborn son is criminally responsible for her actions.
Becky Sue Morrow earlier pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to a dead body and disposing of a newborn with the intent of concealing a delivery.
Judge David Walker ruled Friday that the 27-year-old woman may have been suffering from a mental disorder when she delivered the baby but that that was not the case when the baby's body was burned and its remains hidden.
It is not known if the baby was alive at the time of birth.
At a hearing last month, the court heard contrasting reports from the two psychiatrists. One said Ms. Morrow was in a "disassociated" mental state when the crime occurred. The other said she clearly planned her actions and understood the consequences.
Mother sentenced to more than two years jail time in connection to death of infant son
The Toronto Star, April 3 2013
A woman has been sentenced to 27 months in prison in connection to the death of her nine-week-old son in a bizarre case where the infant boy's body has yet to be recovered.
Both parents Ricky Ray Doodhnaught, 32, and Nadia Ayyad, 24, have been implicated in the case that dates back to November 2011 when Children's Aid workers along with York Regional Police attempted to seize two children under a court order from a Vaughan home.
Investigators: Mother son afire in blaze that killed both
Associated Press, USA, published in Toronto Star, Oct. 24, 2019
LAS VEGAS USA- A Las Vegas woman who waged a court custody battle for her 6-year-old son set the boy afire earlier this month, igniting a house fire that killed them both, police and arson investigators found. Gasoline was detected on first-grader Gavin Palmer’s clothing, and the deaths of the boy and his mother, Renai Palmer, were investigated as a rare arson murder-suicide, Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a Wednesday report. The Clark County coroner’s office said Thursday the cause and manner of the two deaths remained under investigation.
The percentage figures listed by Statistics Canada - Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics are statistically meaningless since the actual numbers are statistically very low. The up and downs in the chart below are of little value becuase of the low actual number of deaths.