Domestic violence disclosure schemes may not improve safety for victim-survivors of intimate partner violence

The rising incidence of women’s deaths as a result of male violence in Australia has prompted some to call for the wider use of domestic violence disclosure schemes, but research by Monash University Professor Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon, and Lecturer Ellen Reeves and Professor Sarah Walklate of the University of Liverpool, suggests such schemes can put victim-survivors in greater danger, with resources better invested elsewhere.

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How well do these schemes work to improve safety for women? …Our new research found they may not improve safety for victim-survivors.

In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action and better responses to all forms of domestic, family and sexual violence.

Some have called for a perpetrator register or a domestic violence disclosure scheme – a resource people can check to find out if a particular person has a documented history of domestic violence. This history could include things like prior convictions, intervention order histories and other non-domestic violence related offending such as property offences.

Lees verder via policinginsight.com