Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 36, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 71-74
Child Abuse & Neglect

Brief Communication
Children in danger of domestic homicide

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.06.008Get rights and content

Section snippets

Children and domestic homicide

Domestic violence at its extreme results in domestic homicide. In the US approximately 1,800 adults are killed annually as a result of domestic homicide (Adams, 2007). Canadian rates indicated approximately 132 cases of domestic homicide in 2007 (Statistics Canada, 2009). Currently, there are no studies that have calculated the prevalence of children affected by domestic homicide; however some researchers estimate that approximately 3,300 children lose a parent(s) to domestic homicide every

Method

Current reports from 16 US DVDRCs and 1 Canadian DVDRC were gathered from committee websites. These reports and committees were chosen based on the availability of published data. Reports were gathered from DVDRCs in the following locations (please note that the reports year is identified in brackets): Contra, California (2005), Kern, California (2006), San Diego, California (2006), Santa Clara, California (2006), Cuyahoga, Ohio (2007), Delaware (2007), Florida (2007), Georgia (2008), Maine

Results

The 17 DVDRC reports combined documented 1,006 incidents of domestic homicide totaling 1,397 deaths. Of these 1,397 deaths, a total of 95 children were killed. Twelve of the 17 reports, totaling 920 incidences, indicated that 273 children were present during the homicide and 199 children witnessed the incident. Six reports, representing 164 incidences, acknowledged that a total of 112 children lost at least 1 parent as a result of homicide. Specific results of each DVDRC report are summarized

Discussion

Children are harmed by exposure to domestic violence and domestic homicide. In fact, some children may be killed in the context of domestic violence. The data identified within this brief communication indicates that many children are exposed to, and therefore affected by, domestic homicide. Furthermore, the data illustrates that children are also killed during domestic homicide incidents. From a review of 17 jurisdictions in the US and Canada, 112 children lost at least 1 parent as a result of

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      Police officers, however, appear to be less likely than other professionals working cases of DV and child maltreatment to identify and report signs of abuse (Spath, 2003). Contrary to the recommendations of many DV death review committees across North America (Hamilton et al., 2013; Jaffe, Campbell, Hamilton, & Juodis, 2012), police do not consistently take advantage of opportunities for risk assessment and risk management. Findings from a nationally representative sample of police officers in the United States suggest that best practices in law enforcement—best practices such as assessing whether a child exposed to DV needs services—are inconsistently applied (Hamby, Finkelhor, & Turner, 2015).

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      Aside from the direct risk of homicide faced by children, they can also suffer the loss of one or both parents (as a result of the homicide, incarceration, and/or suicide) and face negative repercussions associated with exposure to the violence (Alisic et al., 2017; Jaffe, Campbell, Hamilton, & Juodis, 2012; Jaffe, Campbell, Reif, Fairbairn, & David, 2017; Jenney & Alaggia, 2018). Children can be directly impacted by the violence through exposure to violent acts or observing its aftermath, through intervening, or being abused as a result of the violence that is taking place around them (Hester, 2007; Jaffe et al., 2012). The exposure and presence of children at the scene of the crime increases their risk of suffering extreme trauma in these circumstances, with a heightened risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Eth & Pynoos, 1994; Georgia Statewide Commission on Family Violence, 2015; Jaffe et al., 2012; Lenferink et al., 2017; Lewandowski, McFarlane, Campbell, Gary, & Barenski, 2004; Mertin, 2019).

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