Tuesday, July 13, 2004

SPOTLIGHT: Family violence

Family violence sentences lighter

Family members who are convicted of violent crimes against spouses, children and seniors are less likely than other violent offenders to serve time in prison, according to a new report.

The report looked at sentencing records from 47,000 violent crimes dating from 1997 to 2002 in 18 urban areas in four provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Of these crimes, 35% involved spouses, 32% friends or acquaintances and 21% strangers.

Judges handed down prison terms in 19% of convicted cases of spousal violence. In contrast, they incarcerated about 29% of offenders who were convicted of other violent offences.

The difference in incarceration rates between spouses and other offenders became smaller when looking at specific violent offences. However, spouses were still less likely to receive prison terms for almost all types of violent crimes.

Stalking

The one exception to this trend was criminal harassment, also known as stalking. Of those convicted of criminal harassment, one-third of spouses received a prison term, compared with one-quarter of offenders who were not convicted of spousal violence.

Family members convicted of physical violence against children received less harsh sentences, compared with cases that did not involve family members.

Between 1997 and 2002, there were more than 4,000 convicted cases of assault against children and youth aged 18 and under in the 18 urban centres.

About 15% of convicted family members got a prison term, compared with 28% who were friends or acquaintances and 23% who were strangers.

Sexual assault

But the opposite was true in convicted cases of sexual assault. Family members convicted of sexually assaulting children received harsher sentences than others convicted of sexually assaulting a child to whom they were unrelated.

Further, parents convicted of sexually assaulting their children were more likely than other family members to receive a prison sentence.

Family members convicted of violence against a senior aged 65 years and older were also less likely to be incarcerated. However, this difference can be largely explained by the fact that non-family members were convicted of more serious violent crimes.

The most common sanction for family violence, regardless of the type of relationship, was probation. Judges imposed it in about seven out of every 10 violence cases, including those involving spouses, children and seniors.

You can read the full report Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile on our website.

For more information, contact Client Services (1-800-387-2231), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

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© 2004, Statistics Canada.