CSSLRV Director Myrna Dawson presented two studies at the Stockholm Criminology Sympoisum today. With Danielle Tyson and Susa Zielin, Australian researchers from Deakin University, Myrna Dawson and CSSLRV researcher Anna Johnson conducted research entitled “Gender, parenthood and justice: Examining court outcomes for mothers and fathers who kill their children in Australia and Canada.” Their goal in this research was to address the gap in the literature regarding whether and how court outcomes vary for mothers and fathers who kill their children. This study draws from the total population of filicide cases in Victoria, Australia and Ontario, Canada and compares charges, convictions, and sentence lengths for maternal and paternal filicide offenders. Variations within and between the jurisdiction are examined and compared to determine whether punishment varies by gender and place. Dawson’s second presentation titled “An international examination of domestic violence death review outcomes: The frequency, type and content of recommendations for improvement in four countries” examines preliminary findings from an international study of over 5,000 recommendations from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The study highlights the focus and content of recommendations, what sectors recommendations are targeted at, and common ideas for improving responses to domestic violence. This research attempts to identify primary areas of improvement in order to understand recommendations to determine how improvements can be made.
