Sunday, December 27, 2009

Silent night

Despite alerts from a variety of NGOs and concerned ministers, many of the predominantly female or juvenile victims of domestic violence, will be unaware that tonight between 6pm and 12 pm and particularly over the Christmas period, the risk of domestics ending with a death is markedly higher than any other time or any other day.

Research released by the state government last month in NSW revealed that there were certain days and times that domestic homicides tended to occur with the 6-12pm time slot, and Sunday closely followed by Friday being key times that deaths were recorded resultant from domestic violence.

Domestic homicides in NSW account for 42% of all homicides and the figures are adequately alarming that they have prompted a 'whole of government' approach to reducing the possibility of domestics escalating - identifying key factors early on.

The research found that while domestic homicide victims had only been known to police as D.V. victims in one in ten cases, 26% of D.V. homicide perpetrators had come to the attention of police in the year before and that increased to 52% over the five years preceding for offences such as violence, phone tapping or criminal damage.

53% of victims were female and 43% were killed by a partner, 38% by a family member, and three quarters of DV homicide perpetrators were male. Most victims and offenders had lived together.

28% of offenders had consumed alcohol in the hours before the incident that caused a death and 15% had used drugs. 35% may have had a mental illness at the time the offence occurred.

A number of national initiatives are run annually such as White Ribbon Day, Reclaim the Night, etc to try to combat the mindset that motivates violent assaults against women and children, although protection under the law for them is really still in its early inception.





Almost 40% of victims were from the most disadvantaged socio-economic group, and families & communities state government ministers across the country have spoken out about the increased risk of D.V.s at Christmas due to financial stresses.

The Qld state government has taken the unprecedented step of running an awareness campaign to educate the community about controlling and abusive behaviours, highlighting the chance for early intervention and offering support services to those who find themselves falling into destructive patterns.

The NSW government launched a death review panel to better identify how domestic homicides are occurring to channel intervention to those at greatest risk. The five-year study indicated that though victims may be slipping through the police information network, it may be possible to reach D.V. victims through their contact with other agencies.

A wide variety of agencies offer support and help, but the figures indicate a lack of contact, or perhaps recognition by police of potential homicide victims. They also show a ratio of D.V. assaults to D.V. homicides at 620:1 so identification of potential victims would be very difficult for police handling general duties who are most likely to encounter domestics. No information was given by researchers about the number of serious D.V. assaults detected by hospital emergency department staff.

Historically, victims from certain communities have been reluctant to involve police due to antiquated cultural obligations about loyalty and obedience to an abusive partner, but there are also those who mistrust police, or fail to attain any meaningful change after making the difficult step of reaching out to police for help.

Could the health revamp by the federal government potentially offer specialist services, in a less confronting environment, that may better aid to stop victims slipping through the gaps in established legal and justice services?