These systems are designed to help understand the circumstances of intimate partner homicides – and in some cases, deaths by suicide or other forms of family homicide – and to generate learning that can inform improvements to practice, policy, and systems.
I became interested in fatality reviews after a similar system was introduced in England and Wales in 2011 (originally known as ‘Domestic Homicide Reviews’ and now being renamed ‘Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews’). As a practitioner, I had been involved in these reviews – first commissioning and later leading them. At the time of my Fellowship, I was also completing a PhD at Sussex University, looking at what people understood as the purpose of these reviews, how they undertook them, and the kind of changes they produced.
My Fellowship was a unique opportunity to see first-hand how reviews were being conducted in different countries. But, perhaps most importantly, it gave me the chance to connect with practitioners, policymakers, and researchers around the world. Some of the people I met have since become colleagues with whom I have remained in touch, allowing me to be part of an ongoing global conversation about review systems.
Since returning, I have continued to work on reviews and am now an Assistant Professor at Durham University. Last month, my first book – ‘The Potential and Peril of Reviewing Domestic Abuse-Related Deaths’ – was published.