This has been a hard week for Calgary.

Last week, two children were killed in an alleged domestic violence homicide, and their father has been charged. Like many in our community, I am struggling to process this loss.

It is an unthinkable tragedy and it forces a difficult but necessary reflection — this kind of violence is rarely random.

We often describe these cases as shocking. But the patterns behind them are not.

For the past four years, research I’ve led has examined how domestic violence unfolds over time. What we see consistently is that it tends to escalate. It is not a single moment, but a trajectory.

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In this case, police were reportedly called to the home at least four times before the homicide. During these incidents, no charges were laid. That detail matters.

Our research shows that 73 per cent of men charged with domestic violence in Calgary had previous contact with police, often through non-criminal domestic incidents. In other words,........

© Calgary Herald