Section 2: Police-reported intimate partner violence in Canada, 2018

by Marta Burczycka

Almost a third of all police-reported violence happens between intimate partners

• Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes violent offences that occur between current and former legally married spouses, common-law partners, boyfriends and girlfriends and other kinds of intimate partners.^Note  There were over 99,000 victims of IPV aged 15 to 89 in Canada in 2018, representing close to one-third (30%) of all victims of police-reported violent crime.^Note Note  In comparison, 33% of violent crime victims had been subjected to violence by a person they knew other than an intimate partner or family member, and 26% had been victimized by a stranger (Table 2.1).
• Women were overrepresented as victims of IPV, accounting for almost 8 in 10 victims (79%). IPV was the most common kind of violence experienced by women (45% of all female victims aged 15 to 89) (Table 2.1).
• The rate of police-reported IPV in Canada increased by 2% between 2017 and 2018, reaching the highest rate recorded since 2012. The rate of police-reported IPV has declined over the long term, however, dropping 12% between 2009 and 2018. This decline has been less pronounced than the decrease in violence outside intimate relationships that occurred during this same time period (-20%) (Chart 2.1).^Note 
• The decline in IPV rates between 2009 and 2018 was more pronounced among women (-13%, from 579 victims per 100,000 to 507) than men (-7%, from 145 per 100,000 to 134). Between 2017 and 2018, rates of IPV among women increased by 3% and decreased slightly among men (-1%) (Chart 2.1).

Police-reported violence more common between boyfriends and girlfriends than spouses

• In 2018, violence between people in boyfriend/girlfriend-type relationships was more common than violence between spouses (17% of all victims of violent crime versus 13%).^Note  Among victims of IPV, violence was twice as common between current partners (20%) than former partners (10%) (Table 2.1).^Note 
• The highest rates of police-reported IPV were experienced by people aged 25 to 34 years, a finding consistent for males and females in 2018. Sexual assault between intimate partners was the sole type of offence that was not highest in this age group: instead, rates of IP sexual assault were highest among victims aged 15 to 24. When it came to violence outside intimate relationships, rates of all offences were highest among those aged 15 to 24 and declined with age (Table 2.2).

Police-reported violence by an intimate partner more likely to result in charges than violence by other people

• A criminal incident is considered cleared when a charge is laid or recommended, or when it is dealt with by police in another way (for example, through referral to a diversionary program). When it came to physical assaults, violence committed by a current or former intimate partner was more likely to be cleared by charge than physical violence committed by someone else (74% of IPV physical assault victims versus 40% of non-IPV physical assault victims). Similarly, charges were laid for 50% of victims of sexual assaults committed by an intimate partner. This was true for 32% of victims of sexual assaults committed by someone else. These differences may be related to pro-charging policies, which have been implemented by every Canadian jurisdiction in order to address domestic violence (Table 2.3).^Note 
• For 40% of women and 52% of men who were victims of sexual assault by an intimate partner, cases remained uncleared in 2018. This included cases that were uncleared because there was insufficient evidence for police to lay a charge (9% of victims). When it came to victims whose cases were uncleared for this reason, proportions were considerably higher for victims of sexual assault than for victims of physical assault—both those who had been victimized by intimate partners (9% versus 3%) and by someone else (11% versus 4%) (Table 2.3).

Most police-reported IPV occurs in a dwelling occupied by both the victim and accused

• In 2018, IPV most often occurred in a private dwelling (84%); half of these dwellings were the homes of both the victim and the accused (50%), and an additional 30% were the homes of only the victim—findings similar for both men and women who were victims.^Note  For one in ten victims (10%), the violence took place in an open area such as a street, park, or parking lot (Table 2.4).

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One in seven IPV victims experienced violence with a weapon present

• The presence of a weapon can add to the severity of the violence, whether or not the weapon is used: its presence increases the potential threat of violence. A weapon was present in IPV involving about one in seven (15%) victims, a proportion that was considerably smaller than among victims of violence perpetrated by people other than intimate partners (25%).^Note  The presence of a weapon was more common in IPV involving male victims (24%) than female victims (13%) (Table 2.5).
• The presence of firearms was rare in incidents of police-reported violence between intimate partners in 2018 (1%). In comparison, 4% of victims of non-IPV were involved in incidents where a firearm was present (Table 2.5). Overall, in 2018, 9% of all victims of police-reported violent crime where firearms were present had been victimized by an intimate partner.^Note 
• Over half of IPV victims (56%) sustained some form of physical injury as a result, with almost all injuries being minor (i.e., not requiring medical attention beyond some first aid). Major injuries and death resulted for 2% of victims. These proportions were similar for male and female victims—a contrast to non-IPV, where males were considerably more likely than females to sustain an injury (both minor and major) (Table 2.5).

Police-reported IPV rates highest among accused aged 25 to 34

• For both men and women accused of police-reported IPV in 2018, rates were highest among accused aged 25 to 34 years (781 accused men per 100,000 men and 199 accused women per 100,000 women). Overall, people in that age group were accused of IPV at higher rates than any other kind of violence; the same was true for those aged 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 (Table 2.6).^Note 
• The rate of men aged 25 to 34 years who were accused of IPV far exceeded that of other types of violence: the rate of men in this age group accused of IPV was more than double the rate of those accused of violence against a friend, acquaintance or other non-family member known to the accused (364 per 100,000 population) (Table 2.6).

Women in rural areas experienced the highest rates of intimate partner violence

• The geographical distribution of police-reported IPV generally mirrored that of other forms of violence, with the highest rates among the provinces being in Saskatchewan (655 victims per 100,000 people) and Manitoba (592) and lowest being in Ontario (243) and British Columbia (277). In all provinces, non-IPV rates were two to three times higher than IPV rates (Table 2.7).
• In about half of the provinces and territories, rates of IPV recorded in 2018 were fairly stable in comparison to 2017. Elsewhere, in Prince Edward Island, 95 additional victims resulted in a 30% increase. The Northwest Territories (+12%), Nunavut (+9%), New Brunswick (+7%)^Note  and Ontario (+7%) also reported increases in the rate of IPV. Decreases were noted in Yukon (-4%) and Saskatchewan (-6%)—which, despite reporting the highest rate, recorded the largest decline (Table 2.7).^Note 
• Women in rural areas experienced the highest overall rates of IPV (789 victims per 100,000 population), with rates close to four times higher than those for men in these areas (218).^Note  Male victims in urban areas had the lowest overall rates of IPV in 2018 (117 victims per 100,000 population). IPV rates among female victims were also lower in urban areas, but remained close to four times higher than among their male counterparts (447) (Table 2.8).
• Overall, rates of police-reported violent crime were higher in rural areas than in urban ones in 2018, and the same was true for IPV (499 victims per 100,000 population versus 284). However, the gap between urban and rural crime rates was slightly more pronounced when it came to violence between intimate partners: rural crime rates for IPV were 1.8 times higher than in urban areas, compared to 1.4 times higher for non-IPV rates (Table 2.8).
• In 2018, Lethbridge (586 victims per 100,000 population), Regina (477), and Moncton (428) were the census metropolitan areas (CMAs) that recorded the highest rates of police-reported IPV.^Note  Lethbridge and Moncton also reported the two highest rates of violence committed by people other than intimate partners, while Regina ranked 9^th of the 34 CMAs in Canada for which data are available (Table 2.9).

Six in ten spousal homicides preceded by a known history of family violence

• Intimate partner homicides occur within complex interpersonal contexts that often involve a history of violence. When it came to homicides between spouses specifically,^Note  six in ten (60%) of those which occurred between 2008 and 2018 were preceded by a known history of family violence. The primary motive in these cases was most often an argument or quarrel (49%), frustration, anger or despair (26%) and jealousy (17%), a range of emotions typical of offenders exerting control over victims.^Note 
• Analyses of police-reported motives are important for violence prevention policy. An argument or quarrel was the most common primary motive for intimate partner homicides between 2008 and 2018 (40%), as it was for solved homicides that did not involve intimate partners (41%). Intimate partner homicides were considerably more likely to be motivated by frustration, anger or despair (28% versus 14%) and by jealousy (19% versus 4%), while homicides committed by people other than intimate partners were more likely to be motivated by financial gain (9% versus 3%) and by revenge (6% versus 2%) (Table 2.10).
• Of the 945 intimate partner homicides which occurred between 2008 and 2018, a large majority (79%) involved female victims. Most female victims of intimate partner homicide were killed by a current or former legally married or common-law husband (73%), and boyfriends were responsible for the other quarter (26%) of female victims’ deaths. Most male victims were also killed by current or former legally married or common-law wives (59%) and girlfriends (28%), but a notable proportion were killed by same-sex spouses or dating partners (13%) (Table 2.11).

Detailed data tables

Table 2.1 Victims of police-reported intimate partner and non-intimate partner violence, by victim sex, age group and relationship of accused to victim, Canada, 2018

Table 2.2 Victims of police-reported intimate partner and non-intimate partner violence, by victim sex, age group and type of violation, Canada, 2018

Table 2.3 Victims of police-reported intimate partner and non-intimate partner violence, by victim sex, type of violation and clearance status, Canada, 2018

Table 2.4 Victims of police-reported violence, by victim sex, incident location and relationship of accused to victim, Canada, 2018

Table 2.5 Victims of police-reported intimate partner and non-intimate partner violence, by sex of victim, type of weapon present and level of injury, Canada, 2018

Table 2.6 Persons accused of police-reported intimate partner and non-intimate partner violence, by accused sex, age group and relationship of accused to victim, Canada, 2018

Table 2.7 Victims of police-reported intimate partner and non-intimate partner violence, by victim sex and province or territory, 2017 to 2018

Table 2.8 Victims of police-reported intimate partner and non-intimate partner violence, by victim sex and urban or rural area, provinces, 2018

Table 2.9 Victims of police-reported intimate partner violence, by victim sex and census metropolitan area, 2018

Table 2.10 Victims of intimate partner and non-intimate partner homicide, by sex of victim and type of motive, Canada, 2008 to 2018

Table 2.11 Victims of intimate partner homicide, by victim sex and year, Canada, 2008 to 2018

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