Feminist
Research
Education
Development
and
Action Centre
The FREDA Centre
for Research on Violence
against Women and Children
for Research on Violence
against Women and Children
Some Statistics
- While girl gang violence may be prominent in the public's imagination, the reality is, as a recent Elizabeth Fry Society report reveals, that only 3.83% of violent crimes are committed by young female offenders (Schramm, 1998).
- Serious violent offences by young women have gone down in the last 30 years, and 88% of all female violent crime is non-sexual simple assault (Schramm, 1998).
- Very few Canadian girls were charged with violent crimes in the last five years: less than 200 girls per 100,000 population of Canadian girls between 12 and 18 years of age have been charged with minor assaults; less than 60 per 100,000 for assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm; and under 4 in 100,000 girls for aggravated assaults (Doob and Sprott, 1998).
- For the past 20 years, charges for murder and attempted murder by girls have been infrequent and have not increased (Reitsma-Street, 1999).
- Immigrant and refugee girls experience higher rates of violence because of dislocation, racism, and sexism from both within their own communities and the external society (Jiwani, et al., 1999).
- Canadian girls are victims in 84% of reported cases of sexual abuse, in 60% of reported cases of physical abuse, and in 52% of reported cases of neglect (Thomlinson, Stephens, Cunes and & Grinnel, 1991).
- Over 50% of young offenders serving time in BC have previously been sexually abused (Pate, 1999).
- There is a striking increase in the number and rates of charges of failure to comply with judicial orders in female cases, from 6.1% of total charges against girls in 1985-86 to 27.3% of the total female charges in 1995-96 (Reitsma-Street, 1999).
-
More Canadian youth who had been found guilty in failure to comply offences
were sentenced to custody than those found guilty of violent offences: 47%
compared to 38% in 1991-92 (Gagnon and Doherty, 1993).
- The overrepresentation of young women in custody for administrative breaches (such as the non-payment of fines) and child-welfare type concerns (such as child neglect) are further indicators of systemic bias (Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies).
- This pattern of charging more Canadian youth for failure to comply with judicial orders is costly to the youth, to the family, and to the courts and society. When a girl is locked up for committing such an offence, the costs become higher in every way (Reitsma-Street, 1999).
- If a proposed new statute aims to reduce the use of custody for non-violent offenders and to increase cultural and gender sensitive prevention and diversion services (Department of Justice, 1998: 21) then one place to begin is by creating alternatives to the high use of 'failure to comply' types of charges (Reitsma-Street, 1999).
- Women's struggle for equality has not yet been realized and is certainly not reflected in the lifestyles or behaviour of women who use violence. Women who use violence are marginalized and have usually suffered a history of abuse and likely emulate their abusers and abuse themselves (Schramm, 1998).
- In 88% of all violent incidents males are identified as the suspects; half of all incidents involve a male perpetrator and a female victim (Johnson, 1996).
- Of persons charged: 98% of sexual assaults are by men and 86% of violent crimes are committed by men (Johnson, 1996).
- Working Groups on Girls (WGGs) noted in its report that immigrant and refugee girls also experience higher rates of violence because of dislocation, racism, and sexism from both within their own communities and the external society (Jiwani, et al., 1999).
- Child behaviours associated with witnessing family violence include aggression and internalization of problems, with negative effects on social and academic development (Fitzgerald, 1999).
- 14% of all reported physical assaults are against children; 22% of these assaults are by family members, most often parents. The majority of victims are between the ages of 12 and 17 (68%); 32% are 11 or younger. Weapons were used in 28% of cases of physical assault; 59% of victims suffered a minor injury, and 5% suffered a major injury. Most perpetrators were male (78%). The majority (70%) of physical assaults against children resulted in charges being laid (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 1994).
- 43% of foster children experience violence within the foster home setting; 60% have been abused in the past; and 5% are still being abused (Kufeldt et al., 1998:21).