Domestic Violence In Canada Essay

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Domestic violence is well-known to be a serious problem in Canada. Domestic violence includes physical assault or aggressive actions against family members, spouse, intimate partner, boyfriend or girlfriend. It can have many negative results and even result in death. Statistics Canada (2013) mentions stress, chronical diseases and addictions as common results of domestic violence. In most cases, the victims are women. According to Statistics Canada (2013), among all the cases of domestic in 2013, 80% of victims were women. Statistics Canada (2013) states that intimate partner violence is higher when female victims are between 25 and 34 year old. Alcohol also can increase risk of domestic violence. Another factor is that life in certain poor …show more content…

From Statistics Canada data, 6 percent of Canadians who have or had spouse or partner were victims of domestic violence in the previous 5 years (2010). At the same time, most cases of domestic violence are not reported to the police. Statistics Canada (2010) mentions that only about 22 percent of victims reported the assault to police. Obviously, many cases are not reported to the police for different reasons. Neil Boyd (2015) points out that it may be because victims did not think it was important or did not want to involve police. Some victims depend financially on their abusers, some are worried about the family and some do not believe that calling the cops will change anything (Boyd, 2015). According to Statistics Canada (2013), women are three time more likely to become the victims of spousal homicide than men. In the Gangaram and Allen case, the victim was several times physically assaulted by her ex-boyfriend before (Gillis, …show more content…

There are some living areas that have many crimes and violence around them. Boyd (2015) emphasizes that some urban neighborhoods are “hot spots” of violence and they “experience the highest levels of violent crime” and at the same time “are also characterized by high and cent rated level of poverty, racial segregation, population of young people and single-parent families” (p. 320). The street in Scarborough where Gangaram lived on was the place where the worst in Canada shooting took place several years before. This gunfire happened after neighborhood barbeque. It resulted in several people killed and much more injured (Gillis, 2015). According to Boyd, high concentration of poor people results in higher rate of violent crime (Boyd, 2015). In this case, Gangaram and Allen are unemployed, have low income status and low education. Additionally, Gangaram was a single parent (Gillis, 2015). Also, Emily M. Wright and Michael L. Benson (2010) mention that economic difficulties affect partner’s relationships, causing stress, and may lead to physical violence. Stable families need some minimum level of economic

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