Table 4.7
Child and youth victims (0 to 17 years) of family-related homicide, by age group of victim and type of motive, Canada, 2005 to 2015

Table 4.7
Child and youth victims (0 to 17 years) of family-related homicide, by age group of victim and type of motive, Canada, 2005 to 2015
Table summary
This table displays the results of Child and youth victims (0 to 17 years) of family-related homicide. The information is grouped by Type of motive (appearing as row headers), Age group of victim, Total victims, Less than 1 year, 1 to 3 years, 4 to 6 years, 7 to 11 years and 12 to 17 years, calculated using number and percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Type of motive Age group of victim Total victims
Less than 1 year 1 to 3 years 4 to 6 years 7 to 11 years 12 to 17 years
number percent number percent number percent number percent number percent number percent
Frustration, anger or despair 43 67 56 75 27 66 21 54 21 34 168 60
No apparent motiveTable 4.7 Note 1 1 2 6 8 2 5 6 15 11 18 26 9
Argument or quarrel 1 2 2 3 3 7 3 8 12 19 21 7
ConcealmentTable 4.7 Note 2 18 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 6
Jealousy 0 0 7 9 3 7 4 10 4 6 18 6
OtherTable 4.7 Note 3 1 2 0 0 3 7 2 5 11 18 17 6
Revenge 0 0 4 5 3 7 3 8 3 5 13 5
Unknown 6 Note ...: not applicable 9 Note ...: not applicable 3 Note ...: not applicable 5 Note ...: not applicable 3 Note ...: not applicable 26 Note ...: not applicable
Total 70 100 84 100 44 100 44 100 65 100 307 100
... not applicable
Note 1.

Includes, for example, mental illness and dementia.

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Note 2.

Concealment includes homicides committed to hide evidence of something, for example a pregnancy or birth of a child, or evidence of another criminal offence. This is the most common motive for infanticides.

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Note 3.

Other motives include financial gain, mercy killing, and sexual violence.

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Note: Family-related homicide refers to homicides committed by parents (biological, adopted, step, foster), siblings (biological, adopted, step, half, foster), spouses (legally married, separated, divorced and common-law partners), and other family members. Victims refer to those aged 17 years and younger. Excludes spousal victims under the age of 15 years. Excludes victims of unsolved homicides, and victims where the sex or the age was unknown or where the accused-victim relationship was unknown. Excludes a small number of victims in Quebec whose age was unknown but was miscoded as 0. Percentages exclude homicides where the cause of death was reported by police as unknown. Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Homicide Survey.
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