BC Institute Against Family Violence Media Releases
Dedicated to the Elimination of Family Violence Through Research and Information
small fontslarge fonts 

BCIFV home > Media Releases > January 26, 2000


For Immediate Release
Contact: Penny Bain, ED (604) 669-7055
January 26, 2000

Parents Kill Kids More Often
Than We Care to Know

Grisly death and dismemberment of Toronto child
draws attention to an under-publicized but all-too-common occurrence

The murder and dismemberment of a small Toronto child, allegedly by her father and stepmother, serves as a grim reminder of a fact most of us would rather not face. That is that filicide - parents or parental stand-ins killing children - occurs far more frequently than more widely publicized homicides, such as those committed by young people. More than 10 times as many young people are murdered by parents as are people of all ages murdered by young people.

Here are some facts about filicide:

  • One-third of homicides in Canada involve family members; 20% of these are filicides.
  • Parents are more likely to kill their biological than non-biological children (81% to 19%). The younger the victim, the more likely the killer will be an immediate, blood relative.
  • Mothers and fathers are equally likely to kill their biological children. Where the relationship is non-biological, fathers are implicated more often.
  • The greatest risk of filicide occurs in the first two years of life. More than half of all children killed by parents are two years or younger. The rate of homicide for infants under two is seven times higher than the rate for those aged two to 17, five times higher than for those aged 18-64, and eight times higher than for those aged 65 and over.
  • Mothers are slightly more likely than fathers to kill infants under one year (45% to 40%). Almost 40% of women committing filicide are under 25.
  • In the US, homicide is one of the five leading causes of death among children. In Canada, the number of children killed by parents doubled from 1987 to 1997.
  • One-third of filicides occur within a context of child abuse, and another third following parental separation. The latter is primarily a male phenomenon.
  • Twenty-five percent of Canadian perpetrators of filicide commit suicide.

For more information on this under-publicized but all-too-common phenomenon, please contact Penny Bain, Executive Director of the BC Institute Against Family Violence, at (604) 669-7055 or visit our website at www.bcifv.org.