Domestic Violence
Violence at Home
A study by police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) inspectorates has made a number of recommendations to improve the way in which their organisations deal with domestic violence.
Title: Violence at Home
Authors: HM Inspectorate of Constabularies &
HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate
Date published: February 2004
Number of pages: 181 (summary:14)
The inspection looked in particular at
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current police policy and practice and investigative quality
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working relationships between the police and CPS, and liaison with local domestic violence organisations, focusing especially on measures that could increase the number of offenders brought to justice for domestic violence
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the care and treatment of victims and witnesses
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the extent and causes of attrition
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the application of the revised CPS Policy and accompanying Guidance, the Code for Crown Prosecutors and any relevant charging standards.
The report found that there was typically a 50% dropout rate at every stage of the process from making a crime report to achieving a successful prosecution:
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Roughly half of domestic violence incidents where police were called generated a crime report
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Charges were brought for about half these crime reports
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Around half of those charged were convicted
It should be pointed out that in some cases the positive action brought about by engaging a formal procedure may have stopped or prevented violence to the satisfaction of the victim who did not then want to pursue the matter further.
The study also recognised the damage that can be done to children in a home where one carer is a victim of domestic violence. Especially where the violence is witnessed by the child.
Recommendations
The recommendations brought forward in the report are largely strategic. Some of the main recommendations have been included here. For the full list of recommendations and action points, see either the executive summary or the full report
Police
Ensure that systems are in place to flag domestic violence incidents
Monitor and review domestic violence policy
Revisit their standards of investigation in the light of the review
Review Domestic Violence Officer's role and job description
Agree informal information sharing protocols with social services
Police & CPS
Enter into formal agreement on background info to be provided in DV cases
Police include details of the effects of the domestic violence upon children in prosecution files
Take action on breaches of bail
Offer victims the chance to make a victim's personal statement
CPS
Reviews systems for identifying and highlighting domestic violence cases
Informs the victim of bail decisions straight away
Produces a template for area domestic violence co-ordinators
Produces a national domestic violence training package
Getting hold of a copy
The report is available from the Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate website. Due to its size it has been broken into a main report and appendices. An executive summary is also available.
View HMCPSI Publications on the HMCPSI website.
In addition to the report, a literature review was published at the same time. This can also be found on the same website.
Last update: 19/02/04