Centre Director Dr. Myrna Dawson and Research Associate Tina Hotton and have been selected to conduct research using Statistics Canada’s Homicide Survey as part of a pilot project being conducted by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics in conjunction with Statistics Canada’s Research Data Centres. One of five pilot projects to be conducted across the country, Dawson and Hotton will examine the geographic and temporal distribution of Canadian homicides by victim-offender relationship with a specific focus on family homicide and identify the key correlates of family homicides to determine how they differ from other homicide subtypes over time and geography. The Homicide Survey is a census administrative survey completed for each police-reported homicide incident occurring in Canada. The Homicide Survey has collected police-reported data on the characteristics of all murder incidents, victims and accused persons since 1961 and all homicides (including murder, manslaughter and infanticide) since 1974. In addition to offering academic researchers greater access to the these data, the pilot project will also provide support for the evaluation and refinement of confidentiality vetting rules for homicide survey data and an opportunity to improve end-user documentation. This is the second time that Dr. Dawson has participated in a pilot using the Homicide Survey for her research.
