Domestic Homicide Reviews: evidence briefing

1. Introduction

Domestic abuse is a pervasive societal problem across geographies. At its most extreme domestic abuse can lead to a fatality, also called a domestic homicide. There are multiple definitions of domestic homicide but it will always include intimate partner homicide^[1]. Intimate partner homicides are perpetrated predominantly against women (femicide) (Beguja et al. 2017). Some definitions might also include wider family violence – homicides in the context of family relations – or any homicide (including the death of bystanders) where there was a domestic abuse context. In Scotland, domestic abuse is defined in the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 as^[2]:

Person ("A") engages in a course of behaviour which is abusive of A's partner or ex-partner ("B"), and both of the further conditions are met:

• That a reasonable person would consider the course of behaviour to be likely to cause B to suffer physical or psychological harm,
• That either—
  • A intends by the course of behaviour to cause B to suffer physical or psychological harm, or
  • A is reckless as to whether the course of behaviour causes B to suffer physical or psychological harm.

In the further conditions, the references to psychological harm include fear, alarm and distress.

One mechanism to address domestic homicides is a Domestic Homicide Review (DHR). The first domestic homicide reviews were established in the United States, and have since been implemented in other countries such as England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A DHR is a multi-agency review that aims to reduce domestic homicides and improve agencies' responses to domestic abuse. It offers "the opportunity for systemic and structural changes, as well as increased public awareness, particularly in the local areas where the domestic homicide occurred, although [DHRs] have utility beyond the local context" (Jones et al. 2022). While there is variation in how a DHR is conducted in different jurisdictions, in general there seem to be three common elements to a domestic homicide review:

1. Gathering data on all domestic homicides to understand trends, such as the gender and age of those involved in a homicide, where homicides take place and whether victims and perpetrators had contact with any agencies leading up to the homicide.

2. Undertaking an in-depth review of (a selection of) cases to understand the timeline and background leading up to a homicide. The process focuses on tracking the way a case flows through systems focusing not on apportioning blame but on improving collaboration and learning across agencies.

3. Centre the victim's story by "offering an alternative to the 'forensic narrative'" (Rowlands 2020a p. 25), providing an account from the victim's perspective.

1.1 Current context in Scotland

While England, Wales and Northern Ireland all conduct DHRs, in Scotland there currently is no established multi-agency DHR process. Equally Safe, Scotland's strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls, includes within the Delivery Plan, a commitment to "develop multi-agency domestic homicide reviews with Police Scotland and partners learning from practice in other jurisdictions which have allowed for improvements in practice"^[3].

Police Scotland have undertaken reviews in the case of domestic homicides^[4] since 2014. The process originally instigated a full review on every occasion. Currently, an initial internal review will be undertaken to scrutinize any prior police contact with either the victim or the perpetrator. It will be completed within 7 days after every domestic homicide and determine whether or not a full review is required. Where there has been prior police contact, this will almost always result in a full review. A full review will include partner agency engagement where it is established the victim or perpetrator was in contact with them. Whilst there is no statutory obligation to participate, the partners have always elected to provide information to capture learning. The reviews are aimed at identifying learning and delivering recommendations which are recorded and actioned.

Scotland's homicide statistics^[5] shows that in 2021-2022 there were 11 victims of intimate partner violence: nine female victims and two male victims. There were 8 victims of wider family violence. Of these, four victims (all male) were killed by their child and four (3 female and one male) by another relative. All victims were 16 or over.

In the last ten years (2012-2022) the largest proportion of female victims of homicide have been killed by their (ex)partner: 62 of 148 female victims (42%). 28 of 148 female victims were killed by a relative (19%). Men are most likely to be killed by an acquaintance (253 of 454 victims or 56%), although in the last ten years there were 21 male victims killed by their (ex)partner (5% of total male victims) and 35 by a relative (8%). Of those victims (both female and male) that were killed by a relative, 20 were younger than 16 (9 female, all killed by their parent; and 11 male, 10 killed by their parent, one by another relative).

To understand these homicide figures better and help in the prevention of domestic homicides a DHR model for Scotland is being considered. This evidence briefing aims to inform the discussion and develop the evidence base from which to develop a Domestic Homicide Review model for Scotland.

It is also worth noting that in Scotland there are a number of death review processes already in place such as Child Protection Committee Learning Reviews and Alcohol Deaths Reviews. The approach taken in Scotland will need to be cognisant of these to ensure the DHR model dovetails with pre-existing (non-accidental) death review models.

1.2 Methodology

This evidence briefing supports the initial stage of thinking around a DHR model for Scotland. At the time of writing, the scope of the Scottish domestic homicide review has not yet been defined and as such this evidence briefing approaches DHR in its widest sense, to support refining the definition for Scotland as the model develops. To understand the diversity in DHR models and to review good practice, this evidence briefing focuses on three areas:

1. International comparison: A high-level comparison was made of 17 different jurisdictions' models to domestic homicide reviews^[6]. Information was sought on legislation, aim of the DHR, case selection criteria, the process and governance of the DHR, timeframes, dissemination of the reviews, monitoring and evaluation, and costs. The sources that were used were government websites, websites of the relevant DHR, and publicly available DHR reports in different jurisdictions (see Annex 2). The information is presented in Annex 1, and a summary of each theme is provided in sections 2 to 5 of this report.

2. Academic research and recommendations: Academic literature of research conducted into different DHR models was reviewed. A literature search was conducted using the KandE search engine, searching for literature on DHRs published between 2015-2022^[7]. This led to two different types of studies: those focused on evaluating the DHR process and different types of models, and those focused on using DHRs to analyse domestic homicide/abuse. As the aim of this evidence briefing was to support thinking around a DHR model for Scotland, only the first type of studies, evaluating (aspects of) the DHR process, were included. In total 14 academic journals or book chapters were considered, which included (systematic) reviews of DHR models, studies interviewing practitioners, (case) studies of specific DHR models and reflections from both academic and practitioners working in the field. An overview of the literature can be found in Annex 2. The findings and recommendations from these studies are included throughout sections 2 to 5.

3. Alternative models: Information on alternative frameworks with similar aims as a DHR was considered. To determine whether there were other approaches to understanding domestic homicides, a quick scan was carried out, using "domestic homicide monitoring" and "femicide monitoring" search terms. The website of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)^[8] provided an overview of approaches in different countries, of which the Homicide monitor and the Délégation aux Victimes Intimate Partner Violence reporting showed similar aims as the DHR. These are discussed in section 6.

1.3 Scope and limitations

This evidence briefing aims to provide a high-level overview of different DHR models as well as lessons learned identified in the academic literature. It does not provide in-depth analysis of all DHR models in use internationally. The briefing also does not provide a systematic review of all academic literature on this topic. The briefing included literature discussing the DHR process, and particularly focused on discussions of strengths and weaknesses of the process and suggestions for improvement.

The description of the DHR models are generic and limited to the available information online. Some of the processes that are described in official documents might in practice play out slightly differently. There was a specific lack of information found on monitoring and evaluation of DHRs, however, that does not mean that none of the jurisdictions have processes in place and models might have been internally reviewed. The themes across the academic literature and the country-specific findings are nevertheless similar, which suggests that the high-level overview provided in this briefing does provide an up to date picture of a range of different DHR models and the potential strengths and risks to consider.

The briefing also discusses some other approaches to gathering and analysing domestic homicide data, although no substantial literature research was carried out given the specific scope of this work.