Services should do more to stop domestic abuse killings: Domestic Abuse Commissioner

The vast majority of victims of domestic homicide were in touch with the police, health services and other public agencies before their death, according to research published by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and Manchester Metropolitan University.

The four published thematic reports are drawn from a sample of 302 reviews following domestic abuse related deaths between 2012 and 2019, collated by Manchester Metropolitan University’s HALT project, led by Professor Khatidja Chantler, for the Domestic Abuse Commissioner.

These extensive reviews, known as Domestic Homicide Reviews, are conducted after every domestic homicide and domestic abuse related suicide. The Domestic Abuse Commissioner says these reviews are crucial in understanding what needs to be done to prevent a death in the future, but while changes can happen at a local level, often the recommendations are for wider regional or national change without any way of ensuring that will happen.

The Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, is launching the first national oversight mechanism for domestic homicide reviews in England and Wales to ensure public bodies and national government learn from these reviews. The Commissioner has written to Ministers across government departments to ask how they are making the changes recommended by domestic homicide reviews.

The four reports focussed on recommendations for four types of agencies:

• criminal justice agencies like police and probation,

• physical and mental health services,

• children’s services, and

• adult social care.

Read the full article below.

https://www.familylawweek.co.uk/services-should-do-more-to-stop-domestic-abuse-killings-domestic-abuse-commissioner/