326 - Assessing Children’s Risk for Homicide in the Context of Domestic Violence

Leslie Hazel Anne Hamilton, Peter G. Jaffe, and Marcie Campbell

overall

examined 84 domestic homicide cases in Ontario, Canada, to determine whether there were identifiable risk factors that distinguished cases in which children were killed or targeted from cases in which children were not targeted or were not present.

research questions

What factors place children at a heightened risk of homicide in the context of domestic violence?

several related questions

1. Child-specific risk factors

2. comparison between families

3. agency involvement

4. risk assessment and prevention

hypothesis

anticipated that comparing domestic homicide cases with and without targeted children would help identify specific risk factors associated with children being killed.

research method 1

The researchers reviewed existing records of domestic homicide cases to identify patterns and compare risk factors.

• Retrospective: They examined events that had already occurred.

• Case analysis: They studied documented individual cases.

• Quantitative: They analyzed coded information numerically and used statistical tests to compare groups.

research method 2

ample consisted of 84 domestic homicide cases reviewed by the Ontario Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC) between 2003 and 2009.

groups in sampling method

1. no child in the home - 44

2. no child target - 27

3. child target - 13

data collection

used secondary data from the Ontario DVDRC database and individual case reports.

The original records included information gathered through:

• Police reports and files.

• Records from professionals and community agencies.

• Interviews with friends, family members, and coworkers.

• Background information about perpetrators and victims.

• Information about the homicide and documented risk factors.

The researchers used statistical tests to determine whether the three groups differed.

1. Chi-square tests - Compared categorical variables, such as whether a risk factor was present.

2. One-way ANOVA - Compared the average number of agency contacts across the three groups.

3. t-tests - Compared averages between two groups, including the total number of agencies involved.

4. Bonferroni correction - Helped reduce the risk of false-positive findings when conducting multiple statistical comparisons.

key finding 1 - did not identify distinct child-specific risk factors

• no statistically significant differences in the major risk factors that reliably distinguished child homicide cases from other domestic homicide cases.

key finding 2 - Families with children had more agency involvement

• Families without children: an average of 4.07 agency contacts per case.

• Families with children: an average of 7.28 agency contacts per case.

The researchers suggested several possible explanations:

• Children bring additional services, such as schools and child protection agencies, into the family's life.

• Children may require additional support and monitoring.

• Separating parents may interact with family courts and other professionals over custody and support matters.

finding 3 - Risk assessments and safety plans were uncommon

• Only about 13% of cases had a documented risk assessment.

• Only about 6% of cases had a documented safety plan for the adult victim.

• About 24% of cases had a protection order for the adult victim.

• Only 1 of the 40 cases involving children had a specific assessment of child risk.

finding 4 - Multiple risk factors were often present

The cases commonly involved several known risk factors, including:

• Separation or attempts to end the relationship.

• A history of domestic violence.

• Obsessive behaviour.

• Escalation of violence.

• Threats to kill the adult victim.

• Attempts to isolate the victim.

professionals should not assume children are safe simply because the violence appears directed at an adult partner.

finding 5 - Children should be included in safety planning

professionals should assess the risk to children whenever an adult is at risk of homicide in a domestic violence situation.

They recommended:

• Conducting formal risk assessments.

• Developing safety plans that explicitly include children.

• Considering appropriate protection orders for children.

• Evaluating and managing the perpetrator's access to children.

• Improving communication and coordination between agencies.