Recent research published this month in Sociological Studies of Children and Youth examines varying definitions of domestic homicide and implications for research policy and practice. Lead by Dr. Jordan Fairbairn, a professor at King’s College Western and a CSSLRV Research Association, the project was supposed by the five-year SSHRC-funded partnership grant entitled, Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations. Fairbairn along with co-authors University of Guelph PhD student, Danielle Sutton, and CDHPIVP Co-Directors Dr. Myrna Dawson and Dr. Peter Jaffe aimed to highlight the importance of understanding project-based definitions in relation to the larger context of domestic violence-related homicides and deaths. Their research underscored how certain groups, such as Indigenous women in Canada, may be systematically excluded from traditional definitions of domestic homicide. Their results demonstrated the need for consistency in definitional parameters as well as transparency in definitions to allow for stronger research across jurisdictions nationally and globally.
