DOMESTIC HOMICIDE PROJECT January 2022 Spotlight Briefing #1 Adult Family Homicides

Abstract

The Domestic Homicide Project (the Project), based in the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP), was established by National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing. The Project was created in May 2020 through Home Office funding to collect, review, and share quick-time learning from all police-recorded domestic homicides and suspected suicides of individuals with a known history of domestic abuse victimisation during the Covid-19 pandemic. All police forces in England and Wales submit notice of relevant deaths to the project shortly after the death occurs. The research carried out by the Project is the first police-led work of its kind in England
and Wales and aimed to establish the impact of the Covid-19 and restrictions on domestic homicides and learn lessons from every tragic death to seek to prevent future deaths. More detail, including key findings and recommendations, can be found in our first report, ‘Domestic Homicides and Suspected Victim Suicides During the Covid-19 Pandemic 2020-2021’.

It has been recognised that compared to the extensive body of knowledge surrounding intimate partner violence, there is less research and understanding around adult family violence/abuse (Sharp-Jeffs and Kelly, 2016). It has also been recognised that current domestic abuse risk assessment tools in England and Wales are based – and therefore focus – on dynamics of intimate partner violence/abuse and may fail to capture dynamics of adult family violence/abuse (Sharp-Jeffs and Kelly, 2016; Bows, 2018; College of Policing, 2021). This briefing addresses this gap by sharing new evidence around domestic homicides by family members and discussing the implications for risk assessment and practice.