Section 3: Fact sheet — Police-reported family violence against children and youth

View the most recent version.

This fact sheet examines incidents of physical and sexual violence committed by family members against children and youth (under the age of 18) that came to the attention of police during 2007.

Information on physical and sexual violence against children and youth come from the Incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) Survey. The UCR2 Survey collects detailed information on individual criminal incidents reported to or detected by a subset of police. In 2007, a subset of 153 police services reported to the UCR2, representing approximately 94% of the population of Canada. ¹ 

Police-reported violence against children and youth represents only a portion of the violence committed against young people. ²  Some crimes are not reported or do not come to the attention of police and thus, are not captured by police statistics. In addition, young people may be victims of other types of physical, psychological and emotional harm not included in this report, including child maltreatment and neglect, abduction, criminal harassment and sexual exploitation. ³ 

Police-reported assault rates higher for children and youth than for adults

Nearly 53,400 children and youth were the victims of a police-reported assault in 2007, with about 13,200 of these incidents perpetrated by a family member.

In 2007, the rate of police-reported physical and sexual assault ⁴  against children and youth was higher than the rate for adults. In 2007, for every 100,000 young persons under 18 years of age, there were 833 victims of police-reported physical and sexual assault compared to 761 among adults (Table 3.1). The highest rate of physical and sexual violence (1,628 per 100,000 population) was for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17—a rate more than 4 times that for children under the age of 12.

The difference in the assault rates between adults and children was largely due to rates of sexual assault. In 2007, the sexual assault rate for children and youth (193 per 100,000 population) was over 5 times higher than it was for adults (37 per 100,000 population). Sexual assault level 1—the category of least physical injury to the victim—accounted for the majority (83%) of reported sexual assaults committed against children and youth.

In comparison, rates of reported physical assault against children and youth were generally, slightly lower than the rates for adults—with one exception. Adolescents aged 12 to 17 reported a rate of physical assault (1,333 per 100,000 population) that was nearly double that of adults (724 per 100,000 population) (Table 3.1, Chart 3.1).

Child and youth victims usually assaulted by someone they know

Children and youth were most likely to be physically or sexually assaulted by someone they know. In 2007, among cases where the relationship of the accused to the victim was known, ⁵  more than 8 in 10 incidents of reported assaults against children and youth were perpetrated by someone other than a stranger, most often by a friend or acquaintance (55%), followed by a family member (30%). A smaller proportion were committed by strangers (15%) (Table 3.2).

In 2007, the rate of family violence against children and youth was 206 per 100,000 population, almost half the rate of violence against children committed by friends and acquaintances (377 per 100,000) (Table 3.2). Rates of family violence against children and youth have increased over the past decade. According to police-reported trend data for the 10-year period from 1998 to 2007, ⁶  the rate of family violence against children and youth was up 23% in 2007 compared to a decade earlier.

When children and youth were assaulted by a relative, it was usually a parent that was identified as the abuser (57% of incidents). In 2007, according to police-reported data, for every 100,000 children and youth in Canada, 117 were physically or sexually assaulted by a parent. This rate was nearly 3 times higher than both the rate of assaults committed by siblings (41 per 100,000) and the rate for extended family ⁷  members (42 per 100,000) (Table 3.3).

As in previous years, children and youth were more likely to have been physically assaulted than sexually assaulted by a parent. The rate of physical assault by a parent (92 victims per 100,000 population) was nearly 4 times higher than the rate of sexual assault (24 victims per 100,000 population) (Table 3.3).

Police-reported rates of physical assault by a family member highest for teenage girls

Overall, in 2007, police-reported rates of physical assault by family members were somewhat higher for girls (149 per 100,000 population) than for boys (133 per 100,000 population) (Table 3.3, Chart 3.2). In addition, rates of family-related physical assault were higher among older youth, particularly for 12 to 17 year-olds (Chart 3.3).

Among boys, the rate of physical assault by a family member peaked around the age of 14 (200 incidents per 100,000 population). In comparison, the rate for girls was highest among 17 year-olds (364 per 100,000)—the highest rate of family-related physical assault for all children and youth, regardless of sex (Chart 3.3).

The rate of family-related sexual assault against children and youth was more than 4 times higher for girls (107 per 100,000 population) than for boys (25 per 100,000 population) (Table 3.3, Chart 3.2). Young adolescent girls, particularly those between the ages of 12 and 15, were at greatest risk of sexual assault by a relative (Chart 3.4). Similar to previous years, the family-perpetrated sexual assault rate for boys was considerably lower than the rate for girls, regardless of age.

4 in 10 child victims of family violence suffered physical injuries

Children and youth who reported being victimized by a non-family member were more likely than those victimized by a family member to have been physically injured. According to police-reported data for 2007, nearly half (48%) of children and youth violently victimized by someone other than a relative sustained physical injuries, compared to 40% of those victimized by a family member (Table 3.4). ⁸ 

The vast majority (97%) of physical injuries sustained by child victims of family-related violence were considered minor, requiring no professional medical treatment or only some first aid.

Boys (46%) were more likely than girls (36%) to be injured as a consequence of family-perpetrated violence.

Perpetrators of family-related violence were predominately male

Male family members were identified as the accused in the majority of family-related sexual (96%) and physical assaults (71%) against children and youth under 18 in 2007, as in previous years (Table 3.5).

Among incidents of family-related sexual assaults, 36% of children were victimized by a male extended family member, 32% by a father and 27% by a brother.

Fathers ⁹  were involved in 44% of family-related physical assaults against children and youth, followed by brothers (13%) and male extended family members (10%).

Female family members were identified as perpetrators of violence against children and youth less frequently—4% of family-perpetrated sexual assaults and 29% of physical assaults. When children under the age of 18 were physically assaulted by a female family member, it was the mother who was usually identified as the accused (20%).

Mothers were named as perpetrators in incidents of family-related violence against children and youth more frequently than sisters or female members of the victim’s extended family, in general, but especially among victims in the youngest age categories (i.e., 6 years and under).

Overall, mothers (15%) were identified as perpetrators about 4 times as often as sisters (4%) or other female family members (4%). ¹⁰  However, among victims of family violence aged 6 and under, mothers were identified as the accused (19%) about 10 times as often as siblings (2%) and more than 6 times as often as other female family members (3%). In comparison, for victims over the age of 6, mothers were the named perpetrator (14%) about 4 times more frequently than both sisters (4%) and other female extended family members (4%).

Next | Previous