Abstract
Several models of risk assessment for victims of domestic abuse have emerged in England, Wales, Scotland, Australia and the United States. In the United Kingdom, risk assessment and multi-agency approaches for very high-risk victims are a central part of the government's strategy to reduce domestic violence; therefore, risk assessment and management practices are proliferating rapidly. However, the feasibility and complexity of applying risk assessment to these areas is only just a beginning to be understood, particularly as risk assessment emerged from work with female victims and reflects knowledge of power and control differentials within heterosexual relationships. Using data from several empirical research projects, this paper compares the perceptions of safety and risk among female and male victims of domestic abuse (including heterosexual and gay victims). Differences in the prevalence of various risk factors are analysed across the different groups of victims. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
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Notes
The Central Police Training and Development Authority also known as ‘CENTREX’ has been part of the National Policing Improvement Agency since 2007.
For a useful resource providing an overview of many different risk assessment tools, see Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Victimization Assessment Instruments for Use in Healthcare Settings (2007) available at http://www.cdc.gov/NCIPC/pub-res/images/IPVandSVscreening.pdf.
Given that the MARAC sample would have been considered to be at ‘higher’ risk (and thus referred to a MARAC), all analyses were run with these cases removed to determine whether the MARAC victims were artificially inflating the differences between male and female victims. The results were identical, with two exceptions. The relationship between perpetrator with mental health problems and victim having suicidal thoughts were not statistically significant with the MARAC victims removed. Thus, the results for the full sample of victims (n=750) are reported.
These statistics were provided via a personal communication with a representative of Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) (see http://www.caada.org.uk/ for more information). As the MARAC model has been implemented with varying degrees of success, and at different start dates, across the United Kingdom, these statistics mask a high degree of variation across a wide geographical spread.
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Acknowledgements
Funding and support by Safer Cardiff, the Cardiff Community Safety Partnership, the Cardiff Women's Safety Unit, the Dyn Project, the Hestia Trust and the Henry Smith Charity helped to make these various research projects possible. Although every effort has been taken in the preparation of this publication, no liability is assumed for any errors or omissions. We thank all the victims who allowed their experiences to inform our understanding. Additionally, the practitioners working across a variety of agencies deserve thanks for sharing their insights. We also thank CAADA (www.caada.org.uk) for assistance with providing provisional national data relating to MARACs from areas that are participating in monitoring, in particular to Rebecca Egan.
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Robinson, A., Rowlands, J. Assessing and managing risk among different victims of domestic abuse: Limits of a generic model of risk assessment?. Secur J 22, 190–204 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2009.2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/sj.2009.2