Assessing risk in domestic violence situations is foundational to ensuring safety. Although there... more Assessing risk in domestic violence situations is foundational to ensuring safety. Although there is growing information about the reliability and validity of a variety of risk assessment tools across different practice contexts, there is a paucity of research on the feasibility and application of these tools in real world settings. The present qualitative study examined current practices in domestic violence risk assessment in Canada through a survey of professionals working across diverse sectors. Utilizing a thematic analysis of 255 open-text responses, this study presents several themes related to challenges identified at the systemic, organizational, and individual levels. Themes related to promising practices and the practical implication of risk assessment strategies are also explored.
The starting point for this commentary is the fruitful exchange of ideas on the ethics of victimi... more The starting point for this commentary is the fruitful exchange of ideas on the ethics of victimization research, published in this journal in 2011, sparked by Clark and Walker's article, “Research Ethics in Victimization Studies: Widening the Lens”. This article provoked a flurry of responses that, taken altogether, provide an illuminating cornerstone for the ethical debates and issues surrounding victimization research. It further inspired us to reflect upon and share our experiences on conducting victimization research at that particular intersection of academia and advocacy that we both occupy. What struck us about this exchange was the absence of any discussion about the role of anti-violence against women advocates, service providers, and organizations in victimization research.
People who kill others rarely kill themselves afterwards. When they do, they are more likely to h... more People who kill others rarely kill themselves afterwards. When they do, they are more likely to have killed someone with whom they were intimate. Two broad types of suicidal killers have been identified in research that presumes varying degrees of premeditation. Using data on over 700 intimate femicides, the role of premeditation in cases of intimate femicide-suicide compared to killings that do not culminate in a suicide was examined. My results show that premeditation is more likely to occur in cases involving the offenders' suicide, but that evidence of premeditation varies depending upon the type of suicidal killer.
Much of what is known about how the law operates is based on the criminal justice process. What i... more Much of what is known about how the law operates is based on the criminal justice process. What is less understood is whether legal, extra-legal, and organizational attributes matter for non-criminal justice processes, such as discrimination and employment disputes. It is this general issue that we examine in this paper. We also incorporate how the development of the legal construct of sexual harassment affects case settlement. Our study attempts to overcome the underutilization of theoretical understandings from the sociology of law to study sexual harassment complaints. We examine 267 sexual harassment complaints against corporate respondents or employing organizations handled by the Canadian Human Rights Commission between 1978-1993 to see what factors in uence whether a complaint will be dismissed or settled. Our results show that legal, extra-legal, and case processing factors matter for the resolution of complaints. We also nd that the development of sexual harassment as a legal concept is central to understanding the settlement of complaints over time. Finally, we conclude that research on civil and human rights processes should incorporate insights from research on criminal justice processes. Con icts involving sexual harassment are common occurrences in workplace settings. In recent years, third parties such as human resource managers, sexual harassment of cers and mediators have been called upon to handle such disputes. But despite the increasing formalization of workplace responses to sexual harassment, these complaints still make their way to courts or human rights commissions. Designed to protect against and remedy discriminatory acts, courts and human rights commissions are playing an increasingly important role in resolving sexual harassment complaints. While a growing body of research examines the resolution of sexual harassment complaints in workplace settings (e.g., Kihnley 2000; Marshall 2001; Parker 1999), only a handful of studies analyze empirically what happens to complaints that arrive in legal and quasi-legal jurisdictions (Knapp and Heshizer 2001; Terpstra and Baker 1988, 1992). Missing from these studies, though, is an attempt to theorize how the law works Research was supported by grants to Sandy Welsh from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, the
Law <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&amp;"/> Society Review, 2004
... Victim-Defendant Relationship. Total Sample, Intimate Partner, Family Member b, Friend, Acqua... more ... Victim-Defendant Relationship. Total Sample, Intimate Partner, Family Member b, Friend, Acquaint. Stranger. (N=1003), (N=210), (N=98), (N=183), (N=264), (N=248). a All numbers are percentages except for mean age for victims and defendants and for sentence length. b ...
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 2014
Objectives: To examine police charging practices in case of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ca... more Objectives: To examine police charging practices in case of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada. Methods: In this national level study, we explore police charging in cases of IPV using data from the 2008 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) survey. Using logistic regression, we examine the impact of several key legal and extralegal factors on the police charging decisions. Results: Analysis shows that, while the majority of cases were cleared by charge, the proportion of cases in which police recommended a charge varied across the country. Further, the majority of legal and extralegal variables examined were significantly associated with the police decision to lay a charge across the jurisdictions examined, including the presence of victim injury, multiple victims, offence type as well as gender of the victim and the victim–accused relationship. Conclusion: Study findings indicate that future research on police charging in cases of IPV require more precise examinations of the role pl...
The relationship between a victim and an offender is critical to understanding the context and dy... more The relationship between a victim and an offender is critical to understanding the context and dynamics of homicide. It is recognized that the causes and correlates of homicides within intimate relationships differ from the causes and correlates of homicides by strangers. Systematic research has seldom examined, however, differences in the nature of intimate violence, particularly lethal violence, among intimate relationships that vary in the degree of intimacy and level of commitment. Such an examination is important, not only for understanding the phenomenon of intimate femicide, but also for explaining variations in the reactions to such acts. Using relationship state and relationship status to differentiate among various degrees of intimacy and commitment, we show that the characteristics of the people involved in intimate femicides as well as the circumstances surrounding the killing do differ by relationship type.
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 2012
Little is known about changing patterns in official responses to crime over time despite changes ... more Little is known about changing patterns in official responses to crime over time despite changes in recent decades in how the law treats various types of violent crime. Drawing from data documenting court outcomes in homicides in one Canadian urban jurisdiction from 1974 to 2002, this study examines the role played by intimacy in law during several distinct social and public policy periods in one country. The central hypothesis is that the accused in intimate partner homicides will be subject to 'less law' than those in non-intimate partner homicides. However, given social and policy transformations, it is further hypothesized that evidence of differential treatment should be less in recent years and, specifically, post-Bill C-41 which was meant to change the way intimacy was considered at sentencing. In examining multiple decision points, results show that while differential treatment of intimate partner and non-intimate homicide was evident at some stages, it was not always in the direction hypothesized. Further, while patterns in treatment did change over time with 'more law' evident in cases involving intimate partners in more recent years, plea resolutions remained more common for intimate partner killers than for those who killed victims with whom they shared more distant relationships.
America has been declining over the past several decades. Several different social factors have b... more America has been declining over the past several decades. Several different social factors have been suggested as possible explanations for this trend. One theory is that increasing gender equality (the rates of males and female employment and education are now more equal than in the past) has made it easier for women to leave abusive relationships. Another theory is that the decline in homicide rates is linked to changes in the structure of relationships: fewer couples are choosing to get married and those that do are waiting until they are older, while more unmarried couples are living together longterm. A third theory is that the increased availability of domestic violence resources, such as women’s shelters and crisis hotlines, has helped prevent spousal homicide. Some research on these theories has been done in the United States, but it is not known if the same factors are responsible for the decline of these crimes in Canada.
The concept of social exclusion is used to explore the relationship between people and groups who... more The concept of social exclusion is used to explore the relationship between people and groups who are socially and economically disadvantaged and the phenomenon of going missing. Police data about missing persons are compared to census data to determine whether groups who experience family dissolution, labour market exclusion, and other forms of disadvantage and social exclusion are overrepresented among missing persons compared to the general population. The analysis shows that disadvantaged youth, women, Aboriginal people, people who are not in the labour force, unemployed people, and homeless people are all overrepresented among missing persons. People occupying the intersections of multiple high risk categories are at particularly high risk of going missing. Linking missing persons with the concept of social exclusion shows that social and economic disadvantage lead directly and indirectly to peoples’ disappearances. (133 words)
Summary Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) affects approximately one-fifth of women during their lif... more Summary Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) affects approximately one-fifth of women during their lifetime in China. However, limited studies have been conducted in China among women and service providers on IPV. The study reported in this article used an Ecological Model and the Capabilities Perspective integrated with the Advocacy Intervention Model as the theoretical framework for guiding the research and data analysis. This study was part of a participatory project to develop appropriate social work interventions in Guangzhou, China. Findings Twenty-one women who experienced IPV and 30 service providers were interviewed for their views on barriers to help-seeking processes, needs and concerns of this population, and recommendations for any changes. The results of this study clearly suggest that gender inequality is the root cause of IPV against women and prevents women from leaving a violent relationship. Applications The results suggest a number of needed changes at micro, meso, ex...
The way in which nation states respond to femicide has become the focus of much attention in the ... more The way in which nation states respond to femicide has become the focus of much attention in the past decade. The establishment of specialized police and prosecution units has been recommended and some countries have implemented specific legislation or criminal offences specific to femicide. Part of the challenge in moving beyond these legislative and policy initiatives is the dearth of reliable data that show how states are actually punishing crimes of femicide on the ground. Using data that document punishment outcomes in cases of femicide over four decades in Canada’s most populous province, this article examines how punishments compare for female and male homicide victims, across femicide subtypes and over time. Results show that cases involving female victims attract more punitive court responses overall than cases with male victims. Second, intimate and familial femicides are treated more leniently at several stages than other femicides. Finally, there have been positive chang...
International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 2017
Perspectives in sociology of law and criminology provide theoretical justification for expecting ... more Perspectives in sociology of law and criminology provide theoretical justification for expecting victim-offender relationship to affect sentencing. Screening devices used by court actors may consider factors not directly related to the crime, but grounded in dominant stereotypes about the crime and those involved. Using data from an urban jurisdiction in Canada, this study compares cases that differed by relationship to determine whether similar homicides were treated similarly at sentencing and whether stereotypes about intimate partner homicide could explain any punishment disparity. The deep sample analysis showed that disparities in sentencing appeared to be most common for cases in which an offender who killed intimate partners received shorter sentences than other offenders, despite the intimate partner homicide appearing more serious in nature. Results also challenge dominant stereotypes about intimate partner homicide that may affect punishment outcomes. Controls for offense severity in traditional, quantitative sentencing research may not effectively capture variations in homicide.
This paper provides a comprehensive historical and contemporary picture of filicide in Canada for... more This paper provides a comprehensive historical and contemporary picture of filicide in Canada for more than half a century. Focusing on 1,612 children under age 18 that were killed by their parents between 1961 and 2011, regional and temporal trends in the gender of accused are examined as well as differences in maternal and paternal filicides by the gender and age of the victim, the age and marital status of the accused, type of parental relationship, cause of death, motive, history of family violence, and clearance status. Results show that there are significant differences in filicides by mothers and fathers. Five possible emerging trends were identified: an increasing gender gap in accused, increasing presence of relationship breakdown, growing number of cases involving stepfathers and a prior history of family violence, and declines in accused who committed suicide. Implications of these trends for interventions and prevention are discussed and future research priorities highli...
Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 2013
ABSTRACT Canada and China are two very different countries in terms of their socio-economic and p... more ABSTRACT Canada and China are two very different countries in terms of their socio-economic and political contexts; however, neither country is immune to the social problem of violence against women. This paper compares the criminal justice responses to violence against women in Canada and China in order to explore the pathway of responses to violence against women in different cultural contexts, and discusses the implications for addressing violence against women on an international horizon.
While historical research has noted the importance of the 'family' in criminal justice, recent em... more While historical research has noted the importance of the 'family' in criminal justice, recent empirical work has tended to neglect the emphasis placed on the family in the criminal process. Drawing on Daly's work on familial justice, this paper investigates the role of the family in the sentencing of offenders in a specialized domestic violence court. We examine both the likelihood of incarceration and the determinants of sentence length, and find that conceptions of the family continue to have an important influence on these criminal process outcomes. In cases in which the victim has suffered serious injuries, offenders in intact relationships are more likely to be sentenced to jail, yet, at the same time, when incarcerated, these offenders receive shorter sentences. Thus, even as researchers are documenting broader shifts away from the promotion of substantive values through the criminal process, the current study suggests the continued relevance of 'family-based justice' in the sanctioning of offenders, so that moral imperatives continue to intersect with the actuarial logic of modern penal practices.
Assessing risk in domestic violence situations is foundational to ensuring safety. Although there... more Assessing risk in domestic violence situations is foundational to ensuring safety. Although there is growing information about the reliability and validity of a variety of risk assessment tools across different practice contexts, there is a paucity of research on the feasibility and application of these tools in real world settings. The present qualitative study examined current practices in domestic violence risk assessment in Canada through a survey of professionals working across diverse sectors. Utilizing a thematic analysis of 255 open-text responses, this study presents several themes related to challenges identified at the systemic, organizational, and individual levels. Themes related to promising practices and the practical implication of risk assessment strategies are also explored.
The starting point for this commentary is the fruitful exchange of ideas on the ethics of victimi... more The starting point for this commentary is the fruitful exchange of ideas on the ethics of victimization research, published in this journal in 2011, sparked by Clark and Walker's article, “Research Ethics in Victimization Studies: Widening the Lens”. This article provoked a flurry of responses that, taken altogether, provide an illuminating cornerstone for the ethical debates and issues surrounding victimization research. It further inspired us to reflect upon and share our experiences on conducting victimization research at that particular intersection of academia and advocacy that we both occupy. What struck us about this exchange was the absence of any discussion about the role of anti-violence against women advocates, service providers, and organizations in victimization research.
People who kill others rarely kill themselves afterwards. When they do, they are more likely to h... more People who kill others rarely kill themselves afterwards. When they do, they are more likely to have killed someone with whom they were intimate. Two broad types of suicidal killers have been identified in research that presumes varying degrees of premeditation. Using data on over 700 intimate femicides, the role of premeditation in cases of intimate femicide-suicide compared to killings that do not culminate in a suicide was examined. My results show that premeditation is more likely to occur in cases involving the offenders' suicide, but that evidence of premeditation varies depending upon the type of suicidal killer.
Much of what is known about how the law operates is based on the criminal justice process. What i... more Much of what is known about how the law operates is based on the criminal justice process. What is less understood is whether legal, extra-legal, and organizational attributes matter for non-criminal justice processes, such as discrimination and employment disputes. It is this general issue that we examine in this paper. We also incorporate how the development of the legal construct of sexual harassment affects case settlement. Our study attempts to overcome the underutilization of theoretical understandings from the sociology of law to study sexual harassment complaints. We examine 267 sexual harassment complaints against corporate respondents or employing organizations handled by the Canadian Human Rights Commission between 1978-1993 to see what factors in uence whether a complaint will be dismissed or settled. Our results show that legal, extra-legal, and case processing factors matter for the resolution of complaints. We also nd that the development of sexual harassment as a legal concept is central to understanding the settlement of complaints over time. Finally, we conclude that research on civil and human rights processes should incorporate insights from research on criminal justice processes. Con icts involving sexual harassment are common occurrences in workplace settings. In recent years, third parties such as human resource managers, sexual harassment of cers and mediators have been called upon to handle such disputes. But despite the increasing formalization of workplace responses to sexual harassment, these complaints still make their way to courts or human rights commissions. Designed to protect against and remedy discriminatory acts, courts and human rights commissions are playing an increasingly important role in resolving sexual harassment complaints. While a growing body of research examines the resolution of sexual harassment complaints in workplace settings (e.g., Kihnley 2000; Marshall 2001; Parker 1999), only a handful of studies analyze empirically what happens to complaints that arrive in legal and quasi-legal jurisdictions (Knapp and Heshizer 2001; Terpstra and Baker 1988, 1992). Missing from these studies, though, is an attempt to theorize how the law works Research was supported by grants to Sandy Welsh from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, the
Law <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&amp;"/> Society Review, 2004
... Victim-Defendant Relationship. Total Sample, Intimate Partner, Family Member b, Friend, Acqua... more ... Victim-Defendant Relationship. Total Sample, Intimate Partner, Family Member b, Friend, Acquaint. Stranger. (N=1003), (N=210), (N=98), (N=183), (N=264), (N=248). a All numbers are percentages except for mean age for victims and defendants and for sentence length. b ...
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 2014
Objectives: To examine police charging practices in case of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ca... more Objectives: To examine police charging practices in case of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada. Methods: In this national level study, we explore police charging in cases of IPV using data from the 2008 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) survey. Using logistic regression, we examine the impact of several key legal and extralegal factors on the police charging decisions. Results: Analysis shows that, while the majority of cases were cleared by charge, the proportion of cases in which police recommended a charge varied across the country. Further, the majority of legal and extralegal variables examined were significantly associated with the police decision to lay a charge across the jurisdictions examined, including the presence of victim injury, multiple victims, offence type as well as gender of the victim and the victim–accused relationship. Conclusion: Study findings indicate that future research on police charging in cases of IPV require more precise examinations of the role pl...
The relationship between a victim and an offender is critical to understanding the context and dy... more The relationship between a victim and an offender is critical to understanding the context and dynamics of homicide. It is recognized that the causes and correlates of homicides within intimate relationships differ from the causes and correlates of homicides by strangers. Systematic research has seldom examined, however, differences in the nature of intimate violence, particularly lethal violence, among intimate relationships that vary in the degree of intimacy and level of commitment. Such an examination is important, not only for understanding the phenomenon of intimate femicide, but also for explaining variations in the reactions to such acts. Using relationship state and relationship status to differentiate among various degrees of intimacy and commitment, we show that the characteristics of the people involved in intimate femicides as well as the circumstances surrounding the killing do differ by relationship type.
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 2012
Little is known about changing patterns in official responses to crime over time despite changes ... more Little is known about changing patterns in official responses to crime over time despite changes in recent decades in how the law treats various types of violent crime. Drawing from data documenting court outcomes in homicides in one Canadian urban jurisdiction from 1974 to 2002, this study examines the role played by intimacy in law during several distinct social and public policy periods in one country. The central hypothesis is that the accused in intimate partner homicides will be subject to 'less law' than those in non-intimate partner homicides. However, given social and policy transformations, it is further hypothesized that evidence of differential treatment should be less in recent years and, specifically, post-Bill C-41 which was meant to change the way intimacy was considered at sentencing. In examining multiple decision points, results show that while differential treatment of intimate partner and non-intimate homicide was evident at some stages, it was not always in the direction hypothesized. Further, while patterns in treatment did change over time with 'more law' evident in cases involving intimate partners in more recent years, plea resolutions remained more common for intimate partner killers than for those who killed victims with whom they shared more distant relationships.
America has been declining over the past several decades. Several different social factors have b... more America has been declining over the past several decades. Several different social factors have been suggested as possible explanations for this trend. One theory is that increasing gender equality (the rates of males and female employment and education are now more equal than in the past) has made it easier for women to leave abusive relationships. Another theory is that the decline in homicide rates is linked to changes in the structure of relationships: fewer couples are choosing to get married and those that do are waiting until they are older, while more unmarried couples are living together longterm. A third theory is that the increased availability of domestic violence resources, such as women’s shelters and crisis hotlines, has helped prevent spousal homicide. Some research on these theories has been done in the United States, but it is not known if the same factors are responsible for the decline of these crimes in Canada.
The concept of social exclusion is used to explore the relationship between people and groups who... more The concept of social exclusion is used to explore the relationship between people and groups who are socially and economically disadvantaged and the phenomenon of going missing. Police data about missing persons are compared to census data to determine whether groups who experience family dissolution, labour market exclusion, and other forms of disadvantage and social exclusion are overrepresented among missing persons compared to the general population. The analysis shows that disadvantaged youth, women, Aboriginal people, people who are not in the labour force, unemployed people, and homeless people are all overrepresented among missing persons. People occupying the intersections of multiple high risk categories are at particularly high risk of going missing. Linking missing persons with the concept of social exclusion shows that social and economic disadvantage lead directly and indirectly to peoples’ disappearances. (133 words)
Summary Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) affects approximately one-fifth of women during their lif... more Summary Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) affects approximately one-fifth of women during their lifetime in China. However, limited studies have been conducted in China among women and service providers on IPV. The study reported in this article used an Ecological Model and the Capabilities Perspective integrated with the Advocacy Intervention Model as the theoretical framework for guiding the research and data analysis. This study was part of a participatory project to develop appropriate social work interventions in Guangzhou, China. Findings Twenty-one women who experienced IPV and 30 service providers were interviewed for their views on barriers to help-seeking processes, needs and concerns of this population, and recommendations for any changes. The results of this study clearly suggest that gender inequality is the root cause of IPV against women and prevents women from leaving a violent relationship. Applications The results suggest a number of needed changes at micro, meso, ex...
The way in which nation states respond to femicide has become the focus of much attention in the ... more The way in which nation states respond to femicide has become the focus of much attention in the past decade. The establishment of specialized police and prosecution units has been recommended and some countries have implemented specific legislation or criminal offences specific to femicide. Part of the challenge in moving beyond these legislative and policy initiatives is the dearth of reliable data that show how states are actually punishing crimes of femicide on the ground. Using data that document punishment outcomes in cases of femicide over four decades in Canada’s most populous province, this article examines how punishments compare for female and male homicide victims, across femicide subtypes and over time. Results show that cases involving female victims attract more punitive court responses overall than cases with male victims. Second, intimate and familial femicides are treated more leniently at several stages than other femicides. Finally, there have been positive chang...
International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 2017
Perspectives in sociology of law and criminology provide theoretical justification for expecting ... more Perspectives in sociology of law and criminology provide theoretical justification for expecting victim-offender relationship to affect sentencing. Screening devices used by court actors may consider factors not directly related to the crime, but grounded in dominant stereotypes about the crime and those involved. Using data from an urban jurisdiction in Canada, this study compares cases that differed by relationship to determine whether similar homicides were treated similarly at sentencing and whether stereotypes about intimate partner homicide could explain any punishment disparity. The deep sample analysis showed that disparities in sentencing appeared to be most common for cases in which an offender who killed intimate partners received shorter sentences than other offenders, despite the intimate partner homicide appearing more serious in nature. Results also challenge dominant stereotypes about intimate partner homicide that may affect punishment outcomes. Controls for offense severity in traditional, quantitative sentencing research may not effectively capture variations in homicide.
This paper provides a comprehensive historical and contemporary picture of filicide in Canada for... more This paper provides a comprehensive historical and contemporary picture of filicide in Canada for more than half a century. Focusing on 1,612 children under age 18 that were killed by their parents between 1961 and 2011, regional and temporal trends in the gender of accused are examined as well as differences in maternal and paternal filicides by the gender and age of the victim, the age and marital status of the accused, type of parental relationship, cause of death, motive, history of family violence, and clearance status. Results show that there are significant differences in filicides by mothers and fathers. Five possible emerging trends were identified: an increasing gender gap in accused, increasing presence of relationship breakdown, growing number of cases involving stepfathers and a prior history of family violence, and declines in accused who committed suicide. Implications of these trends for interventions and prevention are discussed and future research priorities highli...
Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 2013
ABSTRACT Canada and China are two very different countries in terms of their socio-economic and p... more ABSTRACT Canada and China are two very different countries in terms of their socio-economic and political contexts; however, neither country is immune to the social problem of violence against women. This paper compares the criminal justice responses to violence against women in Canada and China in order to explore the pathway of responses to violence against women in different cultural contexts, and discusses the implications for addressing violence against women on an international horizon.
While historical research has noted the importance of the 'family' in criminal justice, recent em... more While historical research has noted the importance of the 'family' in criminal justice, recent empirical work has tended to neglect the emphasis placed on the family in the criminal process. Drawing on Daly's work on familial justice, this paper investigates the role of the family in the sentencing of offenders in a specialized domestic violence court. We examine both the likelihood of incarceration and the determinants of sentence length, and find that conceptions of the family continue to have an important influence on these criminal process outcomes. In cases in which the victim has suffered serious injuries, offenders in intact relationships are more likely to be sentenced to jail, yet, at the same time, when incarcerated, these offenders receive shorter sentences. Thus, even as researchers are documenting broader shifts away from the promotion of substantive values through the criminal process, the current study suggests the continued relevance of 'family-based justice' in the sanctioning of offenders, so that moral imperatives continue to intersect with the actuarial logic of modern penal practices.
News coverage of intimate partner homicide can reveal and reproduce societal assumptions and beli... more News coverage of intimate partner homicide can reveal and reproduce societal assumptions and beliefs that may influence social and political responses to violence against women. This study analyzes all male-perpetrated intimate partner homicides reported in three daily newspapers in Toronto, Canada within two separate time periods (1975-1979 and 1998-2002) to explore if and how this coverage has changed over time. Results suggest that, in more recent years, news coverage is more likely to report a previous history of intimate partner violence and less likely to employ news that excuses or justifies the perpetrator’s actions. However, coverage continues to employ victim-blaming news frames and to portray intimate partner homicide as an individual event, in part, through the absence of the voices of violence against women organizations, researchers, and service providers as legitimate authorities in both time periods. Thus, news coverage fails to encourage social and political responses to violence against women in intimate relationships that emphasize the need for social structural changes focusing on gender equality.
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Papers by Myrna Dawson