Child Abuse & Neglect 36 (2012) 71–74 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Child Abuse & Neglect Brief Communication Children in danger of domestic homicide Peter G. Jaffe a,b , Marcie Campbell a,* , Leslie H.A. Hamilton b , Marcus Juodis c a Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children, London, ON, Canada b Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada c Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 15 March 2011 Received in revised form 9 June 2011 Accepted 14 June 2011 Available online 20 January 2012 Keywords: Domestic homicide Child exposure Child victim Domestic violence Child maltreatment and domestic violence were once considered separate topics both in research and in clinical practice. This brief communication attempts to shed light on the lethal risk posed to children living with domestic violence. It is hoped that the acknowledgment of these risks will better inform research and clinical practice to protect children in these circumstances. Recent studies have pointed to the fact that child maltreatment and domestic violence are overlapping issues with 30–60% of families reporting a co-occurrence of child maltreatment and adult domestic violence (Edleson, 1999). One study indicated that an estimated 8,755,000 children had experienced maltreatment and an estimated 2,190,000 children had witnessed domestic violence in the United States (Finkelhor, Ormrod, Turner, & Hamby, 2005). Statistics Canada (2009) has noted a current family violence rate against children and youth of 206 per 100,000 population. A significant amount of research has identified the detrimental impact that domestic violence has on children (Kitzmann, Gaylore, Holt, & Kenny, 2003; Wolfe, Crooks, Lee, McIntyre-Smith, & Jaffe, 2003). Exposure to domestic violence has serious impacts to child development resulting in impairments in emotional and behavioral functioning inclusive to social competence, school achievement, cognitive functioning, psychopathology, and general health (Alpert, Cohen, & Sege, 1997; Humphreys, 2001; Wolfe et al., 2003). Aside from the exposure, perpetrators of domestic violence are at a greater risk of being deficient, potentially abusive parents excessively using corporal child-control strategies (Adinkrah, 2003; Jaffe, Johnston, Crooks, & Bala, 2008). Children and domestic homicide Domestic violence at its extreme results in domestic homicide. In the US approximately 1,800 adults are killed annually as a result of domestic homicide (Adams, 2007). Canadian rates indicated approximately 132 cases of domestic homicide in 2007 (Statistics Canada, 2009). Currently, there are no studies that have calculated the prevalence of children affected by domestic homicide; however some researchers estimate that approximately 3,300 children lose a parent(s) to domestic homicide every year in the US (Lewandowski, McFarlane, Campbell, Gary, & Barenski, 2004). * Corresponding author address: Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children, 1137 Western Road, Room 1118, Faculty of Education Building, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6G 1G7. 0145-2134/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.06.008