Preventing domestic violence and abuse: common themes and lessons learned from West Midlands' DHRs

This report is the result of a piece of commissioned research looking at Domestic Homicide Reviews in the West Midlands Police Force Area. Domestic Homicide Reviews were introduced in April 2011 with the aim of allowing and encouraging local areas to work together following a domestic homicide in order to focus on: future prevention, provision of relevant services, partnership and interagency working, justice outcomes, and risk reduction. Noting the lessons emanating from the Home Office (2013b) report looking at the usefulness of DHRs, the seven Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) across the West Midlands Police Force Area (WMPFA) believed there to be tangible benefits of understanding where the nationally identified themes are present across the WMPFA, and where a potential alteration of policy and practice across the region in response could identify domestic violence victims and reduce their vulnerability. As such, this report was commissioned by the seven CPGs across the WMPFA, and has been funded by the Police & Crime Commissioner. This report builds on the findings of the Home Office report (2013b) and the HMIC recommendations (HMIC, 2014) and tailors recommendations for the WMPFA with regards to strategies for tackling domestic violence, and specifically for addressing issues that may lead to domestic violence homicide.