4AP.9
Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network national data update
18 months
The Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network (the Network) was established in 2011 to identify, collect, analyse and report data on domestic and family violence-related deaths across Australia. The aim of the Network is to identify limitations and potential areas for improvement in systemic responses to domestic and family violence.
The Network comprises members of each of the death review teams from all of the Australian states and territories. Members of the Network have specialist expertise in domestic and family violence-related issues and are able to access information from coroner’s courts, ombudsman’s offices and government agencies to produce an informed and holistic understanding of the circumstances and context of a domestic and family violence-related death.
The Network published the inaugural Death Review Network Data Report in May 2018 which provided national data with respect to all intimate partner homicides that occurred in a domestic violence context between 2010 and 2014.
ANROWS and the Network have worked in collaboration to update the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network Data Report 2018 to include intimate partner homicide data from July 2010 to June 2018.
This project will also include an analysis of data held by members of the Network to identify the common risk factors in relation to intimate partner homicide in Australia, and establish a national minimum data set for filicide.
Research aim/s
ANROWS and the Network have worked in collaboration to produce the next iteration of the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network Data Report to include intimate partner homicide data from July 2010 to June 2018.
This project will also include an analysis of data held by members of the Network to identify the common risk factors in relation to intimate partner homicide in Australia, and to explore opportunities to develop a national minimum data set for filicide.
Methods
This study was a retrospective population-based case series examining the deaths of people who were killed by their current or former intimate partner following a history of domestic violence in Australia between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2018. The data are sourced through death review teams in each Australian jurisdiction, and draw on coronial files, briefs of evidence, police reports, media reporting, sentencing remarks and agency records.
Data are extracted into a national minimum dataset, which includes data on details of the homicide episode, socio-demographic characteristics of the homicide victim and homicide offender, relationship characteristics, domestic and family violence behaviours, and domestic violence orders.
Data from this dataset was analysed to inform the next Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network Data Report and will later be used to explore common risk factors in relation to intimate partner homicide in Australia.
Significance
Domestic and family violence deaths rarely occur without warning. In many fatal cases, there has been an escalation of a predictable pattern of behaviour of violence or coercive control, as well as identifiable risk indicators. There have typically also been potential missed opportunities for individuals or agencies to intervene prior to the death.
The national minimum dataset provides detailed information regarding histories of domestic and family violence leading up to the homicide, and provides information beyond the fatal episode of violence. These data are critical in providing a more informed, holistic understanding of the circumstances and context of a domestic and family violence-related death.
The Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network Data Report and the exploration of risk factors aim to enhance our understanding of domestic violence homicide in Australia, and to enhance intervention and prevention efforts in this space.
Intimate partner homicide is the focus of another ANROWS research report, The “Pathways to intimate partner homicide” project: Key stages and events in male-perpetrated intimate partner homicide in Australia (PIPH), which is also now available. The two reports are different in their focus, scope and intent. The Death Review report looks at both male and female intimate partner homicides, where a history of domestic and family violence was identified with a particular emphasis on victims’ experiences of violence prior to the death. The PIPH report looks at male-perpetrated intimate partner homicides (IPH) involving current or former female intimate partners. While the reports associated with each project focus on different datasets that cannot directly be compared, together they demonstrate that there is no one picture of what an IPV homicide offender looks like – and no single progression of events toward a fatal event. Instead, they both offer information about the multiple points of intervention available to us in disrupting pathways to homicide.
Researchers
Project leads
Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network
ANROWS
Research team:
The Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network, consisting of
ANROWS
Victorian Systemic Review of Family Violence Deaths, Coroners Court of Victoria
Domestic Violence Death Review Team, NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Unit, Coroner’s Court of Queensland
South Australian Coroner’s Court and Office for Women
Ombudsman Western Australia
Northern Territory Coroner’s Office
Tasmanian Coroners Court
Magistrates Court of Tasmania, Coronial Division
Office of the Coordinator General for Family Safety, Australian Capital Territory
Downloads
RESEARCH REPORT
Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network Data Report: Intimate partner violence homicides 2010–2018
Downloadsee also
Budget
$129,664 (excl. GST)
This project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.
See also
FACT SHEET
Domestic and family violence lethality:
The facts about intimate partner homicide
RESEARCH REPORT
Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network: Data Report 2010
Find out more