Domestic homicide review legislation consultation

We are seeking views on amending the domestic homicide review (DHR) legislation in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (DVCVA) to ensure a DHR is commissioned when the death has, or appears to have, resulted from domestic abuse as defined by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

Currently, the DVCVA 2004 specifies that a DHR should be considered in instances where ‘the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by either:

• a person to whom he was related or with whom he was or had been in an intimate personal relationship

• a member of the same household as him’

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 introduced a statutory definition of domestic abuse that incorporates a range of abuses beyond ‘violence, abuse and neglect’ to include controlling or coercive behaviour, emotional and economic abuse. Explicitly including the term domestic abuse (DA) would ensure that DHRs continue to contribute to our understanding of DA, and capture learnings to prevent fatal DA.

We are also seeking views on amending the term ‘homicide’ in DHRs to reflect the range of the deaths which fall within scope of a DHR. The statutory guidance was updated in 2016 to clarify that DHRs could be conducted for suicides by victims where the circumstances give rise to concern, for example it emerges that there was controlling or coercive behaviour in the relationship. This was in recognition of the number of victims who die by suicide linked to DA. The term ‘homicide’ in a DHR can be confusing and problematic for families after their loved one has died by suicide linked to DA. The term ‘homicide’ is also not applicable when conducting a review into deaths ruled as ‘unexplained’ or ‘unexpected’ by a coroner.