An Analysis of the Socio-Economic and Sociodemographic Contributors to Intimate Partner Violence in RCMP Jurisdictions in British Columbia

This report examines the rate and response to intimate partner violence in 33 RCMP jurisdictions in

British Columbia (BC) between January and December 2016, with an analysis of trends between

2011 – 2015 . Several lines of inquiry were considered to better understand intimate partner

violence. In particular, the contextual variances that differentiate not just one municipality from

other, but also the different neighbourhoods within the same municipality, which vary significantly

in terms of their levels of crime, was the focus on this study. In effect, to discuss intimate partner

violence in a city as a whole may mask important variations across communities and

neighbourhoods. Given what research has found in other cities, it is possible that the effects of

socio-demographic and socio-economic factors vary more within cities than between cities. Given

this, the focus of this report includes a) how several municipalities in each RCMP District compare

to each other in terms of their rate, distribution, and response to intimate partner violence, and b)

identifying the “neighbourhood effects” that also contribute to fluctuations in intimate partner

violence within single municipalities. The overall purpose of this report is to examine intimate

partner violence in RCMP jurisdictions and to provide a theoretical and empirical-based assessment

of the socio-economic and socio-demographic variables that contribute to intimate partner

violence.

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