A domestic homicide review means a review of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by—
a) a person to whom he/she was related or with whom he was or had been in an intimate personal
relationship, or
b) a member of the same household as himself, held with a view to identifying the lessons to be learnt from the death.
The purpose of a DHR is to:
- establish what lessons are to be learned from the domestic homicide regarding the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims;
- identify clearly what those lessons are both within and between agencies, how and within what timescales they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result;
- apply these lessons to service responses including changes to inform national and local policies and procedures as appropriate;
- prevent domestic violence and homicide and improve service responses for all domestic violence and abuse victims and their children by developing a co-ordinated multi-agency approach to ensure that domestic abuse is identified and responded to effectively at the earliest opportunity;
- contribute to a better understanding of the nature of domestic violence and abuse; and
- highlight good practice.
- It is, however, important to note that reviews should not simply examine the conduct of professionals and agencies. Reviews should illuminate the past to make the future safer and it follows therefore that reviews should be professionally curious, find the trail of abuse and identify which agencies had contact with the victim, perpetrator or family and which agencies were in contact with each oth From this position, appropriate solutions can be recommended to help recognise abuse and either signpost victims to suitable support or design safe interventions.
- The narrative of each review should articulate the life through the eyes of the victim (and their children) and talking to those around the victim including family, friends, neighbours, community members and professionals. This will help reviewers to understand the victim’s reality; to identify any barriers the victim faced to reporting abuse and learning why any interventions did not work for them. The key is situating the review in the home, family and community of the victim and exploring everything with an open min It will also help understand the context and environment in which professionals made decisions and took (or did not take) actions. This would include, for example, the culture of the organisation, the training the professionals had, the supervision of these professionals, the leadership of agencies and so forth.
- A successful DHR should go beyond focusing on the conduct of individuals and whether procedure was followed to evaluate whether the procedure / policy was so Does it operate in the best interests of victims? Could an adjustment in policy or procedure have secured a better outcome for the victim? This investigative technique is sometimes referred to as professional curiosity. It is a thoroughly inquisitive approach to a review and the impact on the tone of the report and the detail in the learning can be dramatically improved by adopting this mind-set.
- DHRs are not inquiries into how the victim died or into who is culpable; that is a matter for coroners and criminal courts, respectively, to determine as appropriate. DHRs are not specifically part of any disciplinary inquiry or process. Where information emerges in the course of a DHR indicating that disciplinary action should be initiated, the established agency disciplinary procedures should be undertaken separately to the DHR process. Alternatively, some DHRs may be conducted concurrently with (but separate to) disciplinary action.
- The rationale for the review includes ensuring that agencies are responding appropriately to victims of domestic abuse by offering and putting in place appropriate support mechanisms, procedures, resources and interventions with an aim to avoid future incidents of domestic homicide and v The review will also assess whether agencies have sufficient and robust procedures and protocols in place which were understood and adhered to by their staff.