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Most child homicides are committed by a perpetrator who has a maternal or paternal relationship with their victim which is commonly referred to as filicide. Previous research has examined differences in how maternal and paternal perpetrators are discussed in the media but there is a paucity of research comparing the treatment of maternal and paternal perpetrators in the criminal justice system. The goal of this study is to examine whether criminal justice outcomes vary for male and female perpetrators of filicide. This study examines 298 cases of filicide between 1985 and 2018 in Ontario, Canada. Bivariate and multivariate analyses are used to compare charges, convictions, conviction types, sentence types, and sentence lengths imposed on maternal and paternal filicide perpetrators. Results show that maternal perpetrators are less likely to be convicted (Odds = 0.279, p < 0.01), less likely to be convicted of murder (Odds = 0.364, p < 0.01), less likely to receive a prison sentence (Odds = 0.087, p < 0.01), and receive sentences that are shorter on average (B = −2.183, p < 0.001) compared to paternal perpetrators. Future research should examine how criminal justice actors weigh and consider the motives and broader social and structural factors that may lead to filicide when determining criminal justice outcomes. An integrated social role and medicalization framework may allow researchers to develop a better understanding of these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which nation states respond to femicide has become the focus of much attention in the past decade. The establishment of specialized police and prosecution units has been recommended and some countries have implemented specific legislation or criminal offences specific to femicide. Part of the challenge in moving beyond these legislative and policy initiatives is the dearth of reliable data that show how states are actually punishing crimes of femicide on the ground. Using data that document punishment outcomes in cases of femicide over four decades in Canada’s most populous province, this article examines how punishments compare for female and male homicide victims, across femicide subtypes and over time. Results show that cases involving female victims attract more punitive court responses overall than cases with male victims. Second, intimate and familial femicides are treated more leniently at several stages than other femicides. Finally, there have been positive changes in the punishment of femicide over time, paralleling legislative and policy responses to violence against women in Canada. Priorities for future research that address the role played by dominant stereotypes in punishment related to particular types of femicide as well as some women’s increased risk are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To examine police charging practices in case of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada. Methods: In this national level study, we explore police charging in cases of IPV using data from the 2008 Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) survey. Using logistic regression, we examine the impact of several key legal and extralegal factors on the police charging decisions. Results: Analysis shows that, while the majority of cases were cleared by charge, the proportion of cases in which police recommended a charge varied across the country. Further, the majority of legal and extralegal variables examined were significantly associated with the police decision to lay a charge across the jurisdictions examined, including the presence of victim injury, multiple victims, offence type as well as gender of the victim and the victim-accused relationship. Conclusion: Study findings indicate that future research on police charging in cases of IPV require more precise examinations of the role played by gender and the type of relationship as well as an investigation of the community context in which police decisions are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada and China are two very different countries in terms of their socio-economic and political contexts; however, neither country is immune to the social problem of violence against women. This paper compares the criminal justice responses to violence against women in Canada and China in order to explore the pathway of responses to violence against women in different cultural contexts, and discusses the implications for addressing violence against women on an international horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While historical research has noted the importance of the ‘family’ in criminal justice, recent empirical work has tended to neglect the emphasis placed on the family in the criminal process. Drawing on Daly's work on familial justice, this paper investigates the role of the family in the sentencing of offenders in a specialized domestic violence court. We examine both the likelihood of incarceration and the determinants of sentence length, and find that conceptions of the family continue to have an important influence on these criminal process outcomes. In cases in which the victim has suffered serious injuries, offenders in intact relationships are more likely to be sentenced to jail, yet, at the same time, when incarcerated, these offenders receive shorter sentences. Thus, even as research- ers are documenting broader shifts away from the promotion of substantive values through the criminal process, the current study suggests the continued relevance of family-based justice' in the sanctioning of offenders, so that moral imperatives continue to intersect with the actuarial logic of modern penal practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the sociological and criminological literature on victim-defendant relationship and violence reveals common perspectives or assumptions about intimate violence. A careful examination of these assumptions reveals that they support another common assumption--that the courts treat (and should treat) intimate violence more leniently than violence between those who share more distant relationships. However, criminal justice researchers have yet to systematically examine the validity of these assumptions or the role they play in determining outcomes in violent crime. Using the focal concerns framework, ten perspectives are described and linked to various explanations for criminal justice leniency in cases of intimate violence. An exploratory analysis of one assumption highlights the need for future research to examine the validity of common assumptions as well as their impact on court outcomes in cases of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of what is known about how the law operates is based on the criminal justice process. What is less understood is whether legal, extra-legal, and organizational attributes matter for non-criminal justice processes, such as discrimination and employment disputes. It is this general issue that we examine in this paper. We also incorporate how the development of the legal construct of sexual harassment affects case settlement. Our study attempts to overcome the underutilization of theoretical understandings from the sociology of law to study sexual harassment complaints. We examine 267 sexual harassment complaints against corporate respondents or employing organizations handled by the Canadian Human Rights Commission between 1978-1993 to see what factors influence whether a complaint will be dismissed or settled. Our results show that legal, extra-legal, and case processing factors matter for the resolution of complaints. We also find that the development of sexual harassment as a legal concept is central to understanding the settlement of complaints over time. Finally, we conclude that research on civil and human rights processes should incorporate insights from research on criminal justice processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]