By Kirsty S Lee, Dieter Wolke, Till Bärnighausen, Lucienne Ouermi, Mamadou Bountogo, Guy Harling

Background Sexual victimisation and peer victimisation are pervasive and increase risk for mental illness. Longitudinal studies that compare their unique and cumulative effects are scarce and have been done predominantly in highincome countries. The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence, prospective associations, and gender differences in sexual and peer victimisation and mental health in a low-income, African setting. Methods In this prospective cohort study, data were obtained from the 2017 ARISE Adolescent Health Study, a population-representative, two-wave, prospective study of adolescents (aged 12–20 years) from Burkina Faso. A random sample of adolescents was drawn from ten villages, selected to capture the five main ethnic groups, and from one of the seven sectors of Nouna town, Burkina Faso, at two timepoints: Nov 12 to Dec 27, 2017, and Nov 15 to Dec 20, 2018. Standardised interviews were conducted in French or a local language by trained researchers. We measured victimisation exposure as sexual victimisation, peer victimisation, and polyvictimisation, using lifetime frequency of exposure, and we measured mental health symptoms and disorders using the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale, the Primary Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder screen IV and 5, and a question on lifetime selfharm and number of incidents in the past year. We calculated prevalence of victimisation and mental health symptoms and disorders at the two timepoints, and we used lifetime victimisation at the first timepoint to predict mental health at the second timepoint using logistic and negative binomial regressions. Gender differences were examined using interaction terms. Findings Of 2544 eligible adolescents, 1644 participated at time 1 and 1291 participated at time 2. The final sample with data at both timepoints included 1160 adolescents aged 12–20 years (mean 15·1, SE 0·2), of whom 469 (40·4%) were girls and 691 (59·6%) were boys. The majority ethnic group was Dafin (626 [39·1%]), followed by Bwaba (327 [20·5%]), Mossi (289 [16·0%]), Samo (206 [13·0%]), Peulh (166 [9·7%]), and other (30 [1·6%]). After survey weight adjustment, sexual victimisation (weighted percentages, time 1, 256 [13·8%] of 1620; time 2, 93 [7·2%] of 1264) and peer victimisation (weighted percentages, time 1, 453 [29·9%] of 1620; time 2, 272 [21·9%] of 1264) were common, whereas polyvictimisation was more rare (weighted percentages, time 1, 116 [6·6%] of 1620; time 2, 76 [5·7%] of 1264). Longitudinally, sexual victimisation was associated with probable clinical disorder (adjusted odds ratio 2·59, 95% CI 1·15–5·84), depressive symptoms (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] 1·39, 95% CI 1·12–1·72), and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (aIRR 2·34, 1·31–4·16). Peer victimisation was associated with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (aIRR 1·89, 1·13–3·17) and polyvictimisation was associated with depressive symptoms (aIRR 1·34, 1·01–1·77). Girls reported more sexual victimisation (weighted percentages, 130 [17·3%] of 681 vs 126 [11·4%] of 939), boys reported more peer victimisation (weighted percentages, 290 [33·1%] of 939 vs 163 [25·2%] of 681), and there was a significant interaction between lifetime victimisation and gender for probable clinical disorder (F [degrees of freedom 7, sample 376] 2·16; p=0·030). Interpretation Sexual and peer victimisation were common in the study setting and increased risk for mental health problems. Adolescent girls who have been sexually victimised are especially at risk of mental health problems. Interventions targeting sexual and peer violence in low-income settings are needed.  

Lancet Psychiatry 2024; 11: 134–42

By Southern Poverty Law Center

Access to safe, stable housing is a human right. In the United States, however, the deprivation of this right leads to inequitable housing access. As a result, in addition to people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color — especially Black people — are more likely to experience homelessness or be at risk of homelessness. Compounding this issue, people of color and people with disabilities are also overrepresented in the criminal legal system because of mass incarceration. This intersection of housing inaccessibility and criminalization has resulted in the pernicious practice of the criminalization of people experiencing homelessness, a pressing issue across the country — including in the Deep South. In 2023, for example, Georgia enacted a law that forces cities and other localities to enforce bans on public camping, putting thousands of Georgians living unsheltered at risk of arrest for performing basic survival activities like rest, eating and asking for help.

Montgomery, AL Southern Poverty Law Center, 2024

By Bill McCarthy and John Hagan

There is now a sizable literature on connections between homelessness, crime, and criminal legal system contact. We review studies on these relationships, focusing mostly on links between the adversity that often characterizes homelessness—the need for shelter, food, and income—and offending, victimization, and involvement with the criminal legal system. We concentrate on multivariate studies from the United States and Canada and consider research on youth and adults. We begin with a short discussion of some of the challenges of studying these relationships. We follow our review of research on homeless conditions with a summary of research that has used data from homeless samples to advance a broad array of explanations of crime; a collection that includes strain, routine activities and lifestyle exposure, differential association, social control, rational choice, life course, and criminal capital theories.

Annual Review of Criminology, Volume 7, Page 257 - 281

By Julie Freccero, Audrey Taylor, Sarah Chynoweth, Justine DeSilva

Children and youth experiencing commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) often have some form of engagement with the child welfare system. Safe and stable housing is vital to minimize vulnerability to CSE, help survivors recover, and reduce revictimization. Yet housing and shelter are among the top service gaps reported by agencies serving trafficking survivors in San Francisco, a high density area for CSE. To address this disparity, in 2019, a coalition of agencies developed Family And Me (FAM), a new model of foster care designed to meet the needs of youth who have experienced or are at risk of CSE in the San Francisco Bay Area. The goal was to establish an evidence-based, youth-centered model of care that could be scaled throughout the State of California and beyond. The 3.5-year FAM pilot aimed to improve the health, safety, and well-being of youth affected by CSE and to increase the knowledge, capacity, and retention rates of the caregivers who support them by offering a range of enhanced support services for both youth and their caregivers. However, due to numerous challenges, such as COVID-19 restrictions and recruitment barriers, the FAM collaborative was only able to implement a portion of the original FAM model.

Berkeley, CA: Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley School of Law, 2022. 40p.

By The World Health Organization

This report focuses on the interpersonal violence that accounts for most acts of violence against children, and includes child maltreatment, bullying and other types of youth violence, and intimate partner violence (1). Although childhood exposure to interpersonal violence can increase the risk for subsequent selfdirected violence (including suicide and self-harm) (2) and the likelihood of collective violence (including war and terrorism) (3) – and similar root causes underlie all three forms of violence (3,4) – these forms of violence are not covered by the report.

Geneva, SWIT: WHO, 2020. 352p.

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 Katherine Millar, James Shires, and Tatiana Tropina

Multilateral processes on cybersecurity have recently begun to include official statements drawing attention to its gendered dimensions. Several delegations participating in the United Nations Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security have stated the need for gender mainstreaming into cyber norm implementation and gender-sensitive capacity building, as well as a better understanding of the linkages between cybersecurity and gender equality frameworks. However, questions remain about the overall application of gender perspectives to cybersecurity, as well as what kinds of action are needed to effectively implement a gender approach to cybersecurity and turn those goals into reality. To tackle this knowledge gap, this report outlines the relevance of gender norms to cybersecurity. It draws on existing research, supplemented by stakeholder and expert interviews, to assess gender-based differences in the social roles and interaction of women, men and non-binary people of all ages reflected in the distribution of power (e.g. influence over policy decisions and corporate governance), access to resources (e.g. equitable access to education, wages or privacy protections), and construction of gender norms and roles (e.g. assumptions regarding victims and perpetrators of cyber-facilitated violence). Overall, gender norms inform cybersecurity in two ways. First, gender constructs individual identities, roles and expectations within cybersecurity and broader society, such as the frequent association of technical expertise with men and masculinity. Second, gender operates as a form of hierarchical social structure. This means that activities and concepts associated with masculinity, such as technical expertise, are often, but not always, valued over those associated with women and femininity, such as communications expertise or equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives. To understand how gender shapes specific cybersecurity activities, this report proposes a new cyber-centric framework based on the three pillars of design, defence and response, aligned with prevalent perspectives among cybersecurity practitioners and policymakers. In each of these three pillars, the research identifies distinct dimensions of cyber-related activities that need to be considered from a gender perspective.

Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research , 2021. 80p.

By Nancy Lombard and katy Proctor

Scotland’s record of accomplishment in tackling issues such as stalking and coercive control has been identified as an exemplar. Most recently, the Domestic Abuse Scotland Act (2018) was implemented which for the first time recognised a coercively controlling course of conduct as the crime of Domestic Abuse, possibly indicating a more empathetic and understanding criminal justice system. However, it is important to recognise that despite victim-centred policies and legislation, institutional criminal justice processes can diminish their impact. As such, victims can feel disempowered and controlled simultaneously by the bureaucracy in which they find themselves and by the continued abuse of the perpetrator. Therefore, this research explored whether the Scottish Criminal Justice System facilitates the empowerment of the victims who access its support or exacerbate their disempowerment.

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of victims of coercive control and/or stalking as they navigated the criminal justice system.

Glasgow: SCCJR - The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, 2023. 72p.

By Niombo Lomba, Cecilia Navarra and Meenakshi Fernandes

With the rise of new technology and social media, gender-based cyber violence is a constantly growing threat with impacts at individual, social and economic levels, on women and girls and on society generally. There is currently no common definition or effective policy approach to combating gender-based cyber violence at EU or national level. Action taken so far has been inadequate, and the cross-border nature of gender-based cyber violence has yet to be properly addressed either. This European added value assessment (EAVA) supports the European Parliament in its right to request legislative action by the Commission, and complements its own-initiative legislative report 'Combating gender-based violence: Cyber violence' (2020/2035(INL)). Examining the definition and prevalence of gender-based cyber violence, the legal situation and individual, social and economic impacts, the EAVA draws conclusions on the EU action that could be taken, and identifies eight policy options. The costs to individuals and society are substantial and shown to be in the order of €49.0 to €89.3billion. The assessment also finds that a combination of legal and non-legal policy options would generate the greatest European added value, promote the fundamental rights of victims, address individual, social and economic impacts, and support law enforcement and people working with victims. The potential European added value of the policy options considered is a reduction in the cost of gender-based cyber violence ranging from 1 to 24%

Brussels, European Union, EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2021. 242p.

By Danielle Keats Citron

For too long, cyber abuse has been misunderstood and ignored. The prevailing view is that cyber abuse is not “really real,” though in rare cases authorities take it seriously. Justices of the U.S. The Supreme Court, for instance, demanded and received extra protection for themselves after facing online threats, but, in oral argument, dismissed a woman as “overly sensitive” for reporting hundreds of threatening texts to law enforcement. In other words, protection for me (the powerful) but not for thee. For everyday women and minorities, cyber abuse is unseen and unredressed, due to invidious stereotypes and gender norms. Empirical proof now exists that makes non-recognition difficult to justify. Studies show that cyber abuse is widespread, the injuries profound, and disproportionately borne by women, who often have intersecting disadvantaged identities. (Hence, the moniker cyber gender abuse). After years of advocacy and scholarship, it pains me to acknowledge the continued invisibility of cyber gender abuse, but progress is possible if we recognize our failings and commit to structural reform. Internet exceptionalism must end for the businesses best situated to prevent destructive cyber gender abuse. Congress should condition the immunity afforded content platforms on a duty of care to address cyber gender abuse and eliminate the legal shield for platforms whose business is abuse. Companies must commit to safety by design as a core principle.

Yale Law Journal Forum, Forthcoming. Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2023-57

By UN Women

The current survey arises as a joint initiative of the Observatory for Women's Equity (OEM) and the International Center for Private Enterprise (CIPE). The objective of this research is to characterize gender-based violence online, with a particular emphasis on businesswomen and/or female workers from companies registered in the chambers of commerce of Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali. The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the nature and manifestations of gender-based violence in the digital environment, in order to propose policies that promote safe and equitable environments for all women in the business and labor sphere. The OEM is an initiative that emerged from the alliance between the WWB Colombia Foundation and the Universidad Icesi, with a mission to build, consolidate, and make visible projects that contribute to women's equity and inclusion. As a body for measurement, dissemination, institutional advocacy, and public policy, the Observatory focuses on analyzing factors that affect women's autonomy and equity in the Valle del Cauca region. Through systematic and timely measurement and analysis, it seeks to generate high-quality, accurate, and reliable information that contributes to regional and national debates on women's living conditions across various dimensions, promoting interventions in public policy and institutional programs that foster gender equity.

On the other hand, CIPE is one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Since 1983, CIPE has worked with business leaders, politicians, and journalists to build civic institutions that are vital for a democratic society. CIPE addresses fundamental issues for democracy and economic development, including women's participation in the business and labor sphere. Its commitment to promoting gender equity, framed within the work carried out by its Center for Women's Economic Empowerment (CWEE), makes it a strategic ally to conduct this survey on gender-based violence in the digital environment, with the purpose of shedding light on and combating the violence that affects women in the business and labor context. Both organizations, aware of the importance of addressing gender issues comprehensively and cross-cutting, have joined forces to carry out this survey to achieve a greater understanding of gender-based violence online. The alliance seeks to generate accurate and reliable data that reflect the experiences and perceptions of businesswomen and female workers in the digital environment, in order to propose strategies and policies that promote equal opportunities and the eradication of gender violence. The collaboration between OEM and CIPE represents a joint effort to promote workplaces and business environments free from violence and discrimination, where women can fully thrive, exercise their rights, and contribute to the economic and social development of their communities.

New York: UN Women, 2023. 48p.

Aaron Chalfin, Benjamin Hansen and Rachel Ryley

For nearly every crime there is a victim. However, the vast majority of studies in the economics of crime have focused the causal determinants of criminality. We present novel evidence on the causal determinants of victimization, focusing on legal access to alcohol. The social costs of alcohol use and abuse are sizable and well-documented. We find criminal victimization — for both violent and property crimes — increases noticeably at age 21. Effects are not present at other birthdays and do not appear to be driven by a “birthday celebration effect.” The effects are particularly large for sexual assaults, especially those that occur in non-residential locations. Our results suggest prior research which has focused on criminality has understated the true social costs associated with increased access to alcohol.

Journal of Human Resources. Vol. 58, Issue 6. 1 Nov 2023

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 The United Nations Development Program (UNDFP)

As the most extreme form of violence, femicides pose a threat to the safety of women around the world. Although they occur in different contexts, as a result of an intimate partner violence and domestic violence, sexual violence, armed conflict, or for the purpose of so-called preserving family honor (“honor murder”), the main causes are still to be found in the unequal distribution of power between men and women, and deep-rooted patriarchal values, even in developed countries.

This analysis was carried out with the support of the German Government project “Improving National Practices for Small Arms and Light Weapons and Building Violence Resilient Communities“ implemented by UNDP. The project is part of a broader regional initiative, a Roadmap for a Sustainable Solution to the Illegal Possession, Misuse and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons and their Ammunition in the Western Balkans by 2024.

By improving data collection, analysis and dissemination of information related to Small Arms and Light Weapons it is ensured that policies and practices for its control are guided by analysis and based on evidence. The gender aspect of the project is of particular importance for these policies and practices to deliver the best results in building a society resistant to violence.

The purpose of this analysis is to present the murder of women and girls in the Republic of North Macedonia in the period from 2017 to 2020, and is a continuation of the first Analysis of Cases of Femicides - murders of women in the Republic of Macedonia conducted by the National Network to End Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, with technical and financial support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The findings of the analysis will be used to develop recommendations for improving the system of prevention and protection of women who are victims of gender-based and domestic violence, which will contribute to the prevention of femicide as a consequence of long-term exposure to violence by an intimate partner violence and domestic violence.

Skopje, UNDP, 2021. 32p

By The Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service Responses to domestic and family violence.

The institutional culture of a police force is of vital importance to a community. A police force is numerically strong, politically influential, physically powerful, and armed. It stands at the threshold of the criminal justice system and is in effective control of the enforcement of the criminal law. Each police officer has extensive authority over all other citizens, however powerful, coupled with wide discretions concerning its exercise. Subsequent stages in the criminal justice process, including courts and prisons, are largely dependent on the activities of the Police Force, and will inevitably be affected by its deficiencies, especially any which are cultural and therefore widespread. Investment in cultural change and strong leadership will remove any last vestiges of a culture that does not value women nor understand the costs to us all of allowing domestic and family violence to continue.

The Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic and family violence (the Commission) was established to examine whether there are cultural issues within the QPS that negatively affect police investigations of domestic and family violence. The Commission was also tasked with investigating if any cultural issues identified contribute to the overrepresentation of First Nations peoples in the criminal justice system. It was also required to consider the adequacy of the current conduct and complaint handling process against officers. This companion report is a compilation of case studies, perspectives and experiences shared with the Commission by victim-survivors, police, and other persons. The information is intended to be a snapshot of the evidence gathered from hundreds of submissions and comments provided to the Commission. The stories and case studies about victim-survivors’ experiences have been taken from submissions from victim-survivors’ and organisation and the free text answers from the victim-survivor survey conducted by the Commission. The survey was answered by 848 people. Information and case studies from or about police members, have been taken from 365 submissions, 53 interviews of current and retired QPS members by Mark Ainsworth, free text answers from the QPS DFV-Q survey 2022 (completed by 2,733 members) and a sample of the approximately 6,200 free text responses to the Working for Qld Survey 2021. Case studies were primarily taken from police material provided under notice to produce documents. The views expressed do not profess to be the views held by all members of the QPS. They are instead a representative sample of the evidence the Commission has drawn its conclusions from. This report is intended to be read alongside A call for change (2022), which outlines the Commission’s findings and recommendations. Where names have been used, these are pseudonyms to provide anonymity. Any other identifying details have also been removed to protect the confidentiality of the people involved. Many of the extracts in this report come from submissions that were provided to the Commission on a confidential basis. In each case consent to publish the submission has been obtained from the author. To the extent possible, the Commission has sought to accurately represent the diverse views and experiences that have been shared. The Commission does not necessarily endorse or support the views outlined within this report.

Brisbane: The Commission, 2022. 56p.

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 Heather Nancarrow, Kate Thomas, Valerie Ringland, Tanya Modini

When police are called to an incident of domestic and family violence (DFV), one of their tasks under DFV law is to determine whether a party is in need of protection from future harm. A concern that has arisen out of the application of DFV law is the inappropriate use of legal sanctions, in particular protection orders, against women who use violence in response to violence perpetrated against them. This often occurs where there are conflicting claims of abuse and can result in cross-applications and cross-orders for protection.

This research project focused on identifying areas of improvement in police and court practice in relation to identifying the person most in need of protection, taking account of an ongoing pattern of abuse characterised by coercive control.

Key findings:

• Women—especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women—are being misidentified as perpetrators on protection orders and the effects of this are far-reaching.

• Police culture impacts on the accurate identification of the aggrieved/respondent, for example, through pervasive, stereotypical assumptions about victim behaviour. Police practice also focuses on single incidents of visible or physical violence, which compromises the intent of DFV legislation to provide protection from future harm (by identifying patterns of coercive control).

• Police sometimes err on the side of caution in making applications, deferring to the magistrate to determine if an order is warranted. However, magistrates in turn may rely on the initial assessments made by police, as may prosecutors. This can create a pinball effect where each decision-maker defers to another’s assessment of the appropriateness of an order. Accordingly, this means that accountability for that assessment is unclear.

• Perpetrators use a range of tactics of systems abuse, such as making false allegations, which can result in inaccurate identification of the person most in need of protection. Once a woman has been identified as a perpetrator, this can then also be used a tool for systems abuse by perpetrators (for example, through threats to call the police).

Key recommendations:

• Create guidance for police on identifying patterns of coercive control.

• Improve processes of decision-making and accountability between police and courts.

• Create guidance for magistrates on how and when they can dismiss inappropriate applications and/or orders

Sydney: ANROWS, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety 2020. 134p.