Fact sheet: Family violence against children and youth

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This section examines police-reported¹ incidents of physical and sexual violence against children and youth (under the age of 18) that were perpetrated by family members in 2006.

Incidents of physical and sexual violence against children and youth are reported by a subset of 149 police services to the Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) survey. This subset of police services represented approximately 90% of the population of Canada in 2006.

Violence against children and youth reported to police represents only a portion of the violence committed against young people. Children and youth can be victims of other types of abuse and violence that are not included in this section, ranging from child maltreatment and neglect to abduction and criminal harassment. For information on child maltreatment and neglect, refer to Trocmé et al. (2005). For information on violence committed against children and youth by non-family members, refer to AuCoin (2005).

Rates of assault² higher against children and youth than against adults

In 2006, the rate of police-reported physical and sexual assaults against children and youth was higher than the rate for adults. For every 100,000 young persons under 18 years of age, 792 reported being either physically or sexually assaulted compared to a rate of 714 among adults (Table 2.1). Teenagers, between the ages of 12 and 17, were particularly vulnerable to physical and sexual violence. The rate of police-reported assault against teens was nearly double the rate against children and youth as a whole (1,548 compared to 792).

The disparity in rates between adults and youth is more pronounced for incidents of sexual assault. In 2006, the rate of police-reported sexual assaults against children and youth was over 5 times higher than it was for adults (190 compared to 35). Sexual assault level 1, the category of least physical injury to the victim, accounted for the majority of the sexual assaults committed against children and youth (83%).

Conversely, rates of physical assault against young people were slightly lower than the rates of physical assault against adults (602 child and youth victims compared to 679 adult victims per 100,000 population) (Table 2.1).

Child and youth victims typically know their perpetrators

Police-reported data indicate that children and youth are most likely to be physically or sexually assaulted by someone they know.

For every 100,000 young persons, 334 were victims of physical or sexual violence by a friend or an acquaintance, 187 experienced violence by a family member, and 101 were victimized by a stranger (Table 2.2).

Table 2.3 Child and youth victims of physical and sexual assault by age group of victim and relationship to accused, reported to a subset of police services, 2006

When children and youth are victims of family violence, parents are the most commonly identified perpetrators. In 2006, 107 per 100,000 children and youth were physically or sexually assaulted by a parent. This rate was more than twice as high as the rate of assaults committed by siblings (39 per 100,000), and nearly 3 times higher than the rate of assaults committed by extended family³ (36 per 100,000 population) (Table 2.4, Chart 2.1).

Notes: Includes children and youth under the age of 18. Excludes incidents where the sex and/or age of the victim was unknown. Excludes incidents where the relationship between the victim and the accused was unknown. The ‘parent’ category includes victims under the age of 18 where the relationship of the accused to the victim was miscoded as ‘child’ and should have been coded as ‘parent’. Includes victims of either physical or sexual assault. Data are not nationally representative. Counts are based on data from 149 police services representing approximately 90% of the population of Canada in 2006. Hamilton Police Service is excluded from the analysis due to data quality of the relationship variable. Rate per 100,000 population for the geographic area policed by the UCR2 respondents, based on population estimates provided by Demography Division, Statistics Canada.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Survey.

Children and youth were more likely to have been physically assaulted by a parent than sexually assaulted. The rate of physical assault by a parent was more than 3 times higher than the rate of sexual assault (83 compared to 24 victims per 100,000 children and youth) (Table 2.4).

Family-related physical assaults highest against teenage girls

Police-reported rates of physical assault by family members were slightly higher for girls than for boys (133 compared with 116 incidents per 100,000 population) (Table 2.2).

Rates of family-related physical assault generally increased with the age of the victim. Among girls, the rate of physical assaults committed by a family member increased steadily from age 12 to the highest rate at age 17 (339 incidents per 100,000 population). Among boys, rates of physical assault by a family member showed gradual increases with age, peaking at age 13 and 16 (170 incidents per 100,000 population) (Chart 2.2).

Notes: Includes children and youth under the age of 18. Excludes incidents where the sex and/or age of the victim was unknown. Excludes incidents where the relationship between the victim and the accused was unknown. Data are not nationally representative. Counts are based on data from 149 police services representing approximately 90% of the population of Canada in 2006. Hamilton Police Service is excluded from the analysis due to data quality of the relationship variable. Rate per 100,000 population for the geographic area policed by the UCR2 respondents, based on population estimates provided by Demography Division, Statistics Canada.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Survey.

The rate of sexual assault against children and youth committed by family members was 4 times higher for girls than for boys (102 compared with 25 incidents per 100,000 population) (Table 2.2).

Similar to previous years, in 2006, young teenage girls between 11 and 14 years of age experienced the highest rates of sexual assault by a family member. While sexual assault rates were much lower for male child victims, they were highest among boys between 3 and 9 years of age (Chart 2.3).

Notes: Includes children and youth under the age of 18. Excludes incidents where the sex and/or age of the victim was unknown. Excludes incidents where the relationship between the victim and the accused was unknown. Data are not nationally representative. Counts are based on data from 149 police services representing approximately 90% of the population of Canada in 2006. Hamilton Police Service is excluded from the analysis due to data quality of the relationship variable. Rate per 100,000 population for the geographic area policed by the UCR2 respondents, based on population estimates provided by Demography Division, Statistics Canada.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Survey.

Table 2.5 Child and youth victims by age group of victim and type of assault by family members, reported to a subset of police services, 2006

Nearly 4 in 10 child victims of family violence suffer injuries

Children and youth who were victimized were more likely to be physically injured by a non-family member than by a family member. Police-reported data indicated that 39% of child and youth victims of family violence sustained a physical injury in 2006, compared to 48% when the perpetrator was a non-family member (Table 2.6). The majority of injuries sustained were considered to be minor injuries requiring no professional medical treatment or only some first aid.

Boys were more likely than girls to sustain physical injuries resulting from family violence (46% compared to 35%).

Males commit majority of family-related violence against children and youth

In 2006, male family members were identified as the accused in 96% of all family-related sexual assaults and in 71% of family-related physical assaults against children and youth. Fathers⁴ were involved in 35% of sexual assault incidents against their children, followed by male extended family members (33%) and brothers (28%).

Female family members were seldom identified as perpetrators of violence against young persons (4% of family related sexual assaults and 29% of physical assaults). Of all child and youth victims of family inflicted physical assaults committed by females, 70% were assaulted by their mother, 16% by a sister, 13% by an extended family member and 1% by a spouse or ex-spouse.

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Endnotes

1. Police-reported data reflect incidents that have come to the attention of police, including those that occurred or were reported in a given year but occurred in a previous year.
2. Includes physical and sexual assault combined. For more detailed information about these offences, refer to the ‘Definitions’ section.
3. Extended family includes persons related by blood, marriage, adoption or foster care (i.e., aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters/brothers-in- law, etc.).
4. The UCR2 survey combines biological, step and adopted fathers into one category.