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The Criteria For Silhouettes
The silhouettes in the exhibit represent women who were killed in New Brunswick in acts of intimate partner violence. The determination that particular homicides or murder-suicides were acts of intimate partner violence is based on thorough research in relation to the criteria below.
Criteria used are:
i) Who?
Women killed in New Brunswick by their partners, ex-partners or acquaintances in acts of family violence where the perpetrator was charged and convicted, or the women were killed in documented cases of domestic murder/suicide.
ii) Family Violence Definitions:
Family violence, sometimes called domestic violence, wife abuse or woman abuse, is the abuse and mistreatment of an individual in an intimate or family relationship. The abuser is typically the partner or ex-partner, or an acquaintance who was trying to have a relationship. The abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, or financial in nature. It happens everywhere and to people from all backgrounds. In its most extreme form, family violence can result in severe injury and even homicide. Most of the victims are women.
Partners include a husband, ex-husband, common-law partner or boyfriend, ex-common-law partner, ex-boyfriend, or same-sex partner.
Acquaintances might include co-workers, friends, or neighbours in circumstances where there has been as attempt to forcibly create an intimate relationship with the victim. This may involve stalking behaviour. The key is that the person who commits the murder is not a stranger to the woman and has attempted to exert control over her.
iii) When?
Women killed in New Brunswick since 1990. We hope to create silhouettes for all of the New Brunswick women killed in the province since 1990. However, upon the request of a surviving family member or loved one, we will consider creating individual silhouettes, as resources permit, to honour a specific woman killed in an act family violence prior to 1990.
iv) Age?
Women 16 years of age and older are included in the exhibit. Although younger women under 16 years of age have been killed, we have selected 16 as the cut off for a variety of reasons both legal and social.