By Naomi Pfitzner · Kate Fitz-Gibbon · Sandra Walklate · Silke Meyer · Marie Segrave

This open access book brings together leading international violence researchers to examine the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on experiences of, and responses to, domestic and family violence. In April 2020 the United Nations predicted that for every three months the COVID-19 lockdowns continued an additional 15 million cases of domestic violence would occur worldwide, termed the "shadow pandemic". Drawing on empirical work situated within an international context, this book presents evidence alongside country specific case studies to provide a global exploration of how women’s insecurity increased during this global health crisis at the same as their access to support services reduced. It provides a timely analysis of the degree to which the pandemic and associated government restrictions impacted on women’s experiences of violence with particular attention to changes in its prevalence and severity, and in system and service responses to women’s help-seeking. In addition, the differential impacts of the pandemic in relation to the experiences of priority cohorts, including violence experienced by children and temporary migrant women is also explored. The key focus is on the nature, extent, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on service delivery, accessibility of support, and access to justice for women experiencing domestic and family violence.

Cham, Springer Nature (palgrave Pivot), 2023. 150p.

By Sarah Hodgkinson, Anthony Dixon, Eric Halford and Graham Farrell

Research on pandemic domestic abuse trends has produced inconsistent findings reflecting differences in definitions, data and method. This study analyses 43,488 domestic abuse crimes recorded by a UK police force. Metrics and analytic approaches are tailored to address key methodological issues in three key ways. First, it was hypothesised that reporting rates changed during lockdown, so natural language processing was used to interrogate untapped free-text information in police records to develop a novel indicator of change in reporting. Second, it was hypothesised that abuse would change differentially for those cohabiting (due to physical proximity) compared to non-cohabitees, which was assessed via a proxy measure. Third, the analytic approaches used were change-point analysis and anomaly detection: these are more independent than regression analysis for present purposes in gauging the timing and duration of significant change. However, the main findings were largely contrary to expectation: (1) domestic abuse did not increase during the first national lockdown in early 2020 but increased across a prolonged post-lockdown period, (2) the post-lockdown increase did not reflect change in reporting by victims, and; (3) the proportion of abuse between cohabiting partners, at around 40 percent of the total, did not increase significantly during or after the lockdown. The implications of these unanticipated findings are discussed.

Crime Science 2023 12:12

BY Stephanie Beckwith, Lauren Lowe, Liz Wall, Emily Stevens, Rachel Carson, Rae Kaspiew, Jasmine B. MacDonald, Jade McEwen and Melissa Willoughby

This report presents a literature review on coercive control in the context of domestic and family violence, with a particular focus on the understanding of, and responses to coercive control in the Australian context.

Commissioned by the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, this review focuses on identifying, summarising, analysing and synthesising the existing Australian academic research and evaluations on coercive control. The review highlights the complexities of defining, recognising and responding to coercive control and identifies relevant gaps in the evidence base.

Drawing from a range of quantitative and qualitative studies across scholarly and grey literature, including non-government reports, government and parliamentary reports, peak body reports, and position papers, this review captures the growing recognition of coercively controlling behaviour in the context of family and domestic violence.

Southbank VIC: Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2023. 54p.

By Gemma Hamilton, Alexandra Ridgway, Anastasia Powell, Georgina Heydon

This research explores the co-occurrence of family violence and sexual harm in Victoria, shedding light on the complex nature and interconnectedness between these two forms of abuse and its impact on victim survivors.

Drawing on victim/survivor and stakeholder interviews, as well as a sector wide survey, the reports present key outcomes of a research project funded by Family Safety Victoria with particular attention towards the implications of key findings for the development of policy, intervention and support. By deepening understandings of the complex interplay between family violence and sexual harm, the research seeks to assist professionals in this space to better address the needs of victim/survivors and work together to strengthen system responses.

Melbourne: RMIT University, 2023. 59p.

By The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women; Alicia Deus and Diana Gonzale

The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women was adopted in Belém do Pará, Brazil by all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in 1994, formalizing the definition of violence against women as a violation of their human rights.

The Belém do Pará Convention establishes for the first time the development of mechanisms to protect and defend the rights of women, in the fight to eliminate violence against their physical, sexual and psychological integrity, both in the public and in the private spheres.

The Belém do Pará Convention asks the States Parties to adopt legislative measures of a criminal nature (among others) that “are necessary to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women” (Article 7.c of the Convention) .

Recommendation No. 35 on gender based violence by the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states that: “Women’s right to a life free from gender-based violence is indivisible from and interdependent with other human rights, including the right to life, health, liberty and security of the person, the right to equality and equal protection within the family, freedom from torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment, freedom of expression, movement, participation, assembly and association.”

eminists, surviving victims and academics in Latin America and the Caribbean managed to conceptualize as an offense of femicide/feminicide, developing a great regional debate, documenting and generating evidence in each country and comparing the phenomenon. It is from their great efforts that the typification of feminicide/femicide is achieved and it has been justified based on the standards of international human rights law.

In the framework of the CSW57 in 2013, in the agreed conclusions it was possible to incorporate the concept of femicide as a criminal offense expressing “concern for the violent murders of women and girls for reasons of gender, while recognizing the efforts made to face this form of violence in different regions, particularly in countries where the concept of femicide has been incorporated into national legislation.“

A first tool developed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Women in the Latin American and Caribbean region was the Latin American Model Protocol for the investigation of gender-related killings of women (femicide/feminicide) in the framework of the UN Secretary General’s Campaign UNITE to end violence against women.

On this occasion, both MESECVI and UN Women intend to provide the region with a model law on femicide/feminicide to address the most serious women´s human rights violation. To do so, we will first analyze the existing legislation, provoking debate and improvement in cases where it is required.

Piso 3Ciudad del SaberClayton, PANAMA, UN Women, 2018. 77p.

By Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service

The Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service (QPS) responses to domestic and family violence was established as part of the Queensland Government’s response to the recommendations of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce in Hear her voice: Report One (2021). The Commission’s terms of reference tasked it to inquire into any cultural issues within the QPS that influence the investigation of domestic and family violence, and how those cultural issues contribute to the overrepresentation of First Nations peoples in the criminal justice system. The terms of reference also required the Commission to inquire into the capability, capacity and structure of the QPS to respond to domestic and family violence, and the adequacy of the processes for dealing with complaints about police officers to ensure the community confidence in the QPS. To assist it with those inquiries, the Commission gathered information from victim-survivors, the community organisations that support them and police officers. It did this using a variety of methods including by calling for submissions, conducting surveys of victim-survivors and police officers, conducting meetings and interviews, holding public hearings and using its powers to require the production of relevant information and records, including from the QPS. The Commission also examined previous reports and reviews of QPS responses to domestic and family violence and engaged experts to inform its understanding of matters relevant to the terms of reference. The Commission was greatly assisted by the information and perspectives provided by victim-survivors and community organisations. However, what makes the work of this Commission different to previous reviews of QPS responses to domestic and family violence is the extent to which police officers provided information and views about what is working well and what needs improvement. Police officers have a lived experience of the culture of the organisation. Through the input of police officers, the Commission learned of cultural issues of sexism, misogyny and racism which impact on QPS responses to domestic and family violence. By sharing their experiences and views, police officers also informed the Commission about the impact that resourcing issues, structural limitations, and burnout and fatigue has on the QPS response. Police officers told the Commission that, although most police officers conduct themselves admirably towards their colleagues and victim-survivors, the cultural and structural issues in the organisation mean there is need for improvement in the organisation’s response. Through the information and views shared with the Commission, victim-survivors, community organisations and police officers all made a call for change and expressed a hope for improvement.

Brisbane: The Commission, 2022. 412p.

By Hayley Boxall, Anthony Morgan

Awareness of coercive control within the context of abusive intimate relationships is greater than ever before in Australia. However, there is limited research examining the different patterns and characteristics of abuse, particularly among large Australian samples.

This study examines the characteristics of violence and abuse reported by 1,023 Australian women who had recently experienced coercive control by their current or former partner. The most frequently reported behaviours were jealousy and suspicion of friends, constant insults, monitoring of movements and financial abuse. Over half of the respondents also reported experiencing physical forms of abuse (54%), including severe forms such as non-fatal strangulation (27%). One in three of these women also reported experiencing sexual violence during the survey period (30%). Women were much more likely to seek advice or support when they had also experienced physical or sexual forms of abuse.

Statistical Bulletin 30. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2021. 15p.

By HM Inspectorate of Probation (UK)

The impact of domestic abuse is significant and far-reaching. An estimated 2.4 million adults were victims of domestic abuse across England and Wales last year, and one in seven children live with domestic abuse at some point in their childhood. Women are disproportionately affected by domestic abuse, with an estimated 1.7 million female victims last year. Those responsible for this abuse account for a very significant part of the Probation Service caseload, with approximately 30 percent of people on probation identified as current or previous perpetrators of domestic abuse. When we last inspected this topic in 2018, we reported that too many individuals were drifting through their sentences without being challenged or supported to change their abusive behaviours. Very concerningly, despite some positive developments in policy, little appears to have improved in practice, and in some respects, things have deteriorated. Only 28 per cent of the cases we inspected for this review had a sufficient assessment which analysed the risks of further domestic abuse, and only 23 per cent had been reviewed adequately to consider significant changes in the case. This is unacceptable and is leaving far too many potential victims at risk. People on probation can be offered a range of interventions aimed at helping them make positive changes in their lives and equipping them to have safe and healthy relationships. However, too few people gain access to these interventions; 45 percent of our case sample should have had access to an intervention but had not. In addition, there is insufficient monitoring of referral, take-up, and completion rates for interventions at a national level to understand the overall picture. It is unacceptable that requirements to undertake a domestic abuse perpetrator programme made as part of sentencing are not delivered, yet this happens in many cases. Staffing shortages in the Probation Service have led to reductions in expectations around minimum levels of contact with people on probation, partnership working, and the delivery of interventions. In domestic abuse cases, this has led to worrying deficits in the standard of sentence management. Probation staff demonstrate high levels of commitment to their work, often working well over their expected hours, but high caseloads often prohibit them from being able to complete meaningful work. In addition, recent changes in legislation through the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, such as the recognition of children affected by domestic abuse as victims in their own right, have not been incorporated into probation practice. More needs to be done to ensure that there is a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities among agencies working with domestic abuse, and that information is shared to safeguard victims

Manchester, UK: HM Inspectorate of Probation, 2023. 61p.

By Hayley Boxall and Christopher Dowling and Anthony Morgan

Differences between male and female perpetrated domestic violence are widely acknowledged. However, there is a lack of Australian data on the circumstances of female perpetrated violence. This study analysed 153 police narratives of domestic violence incidents involving a female person of interest (POI). Results were consistent with international studies. Half of the episodes involved either self-defensive or retaliatory violence—otherwise known as violent resistance—meaning the POI had been a victim of prior violence by their partner or the episode involved a male victim who was abusive in the lead-up to the incident. Violent resistance was more common in incidents involving Indigenous women. The findings highlight the different motivations for female perpetrated domestic violence, and the importance of understanding the complex dynamics of violent episodes.

Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no. 584. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2020.17p.