Domestic Violence Death Reviews and Femicide: Theory, Research, Practice, Policy

Hundreds of Domestic Violence Death Review committees, teams, and panels are operating in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. At the same time, thousands of women are being injured physically, emotionally, and cognitively, and a smaller number are being killed, by their male intimate partners. Femicides represent the tip of the iceberg for non-fatal and fatal injuries inflicted on intimate female partners, and taken together, they constitute an epidemic.
This book investigates attempts made by Domestic Violence Death Reviews (DVDRs) in three different countries to end the epidemic by making recommendations to community-based organizations and agencies, such as women’s shelters, substance abuse treatment agencies, and police forces. Thousands of recommendations have been made since these Reviews were first created in 1994, but why have they not decreased the rates of femicide? This book answers this question, describes steps DVDRs can take to increases their fitness for preventing femicide in communities, and also how establishing a DVDR in an indigenous First Nation in Canada can achieve the same end. Readers who are not familiar with DVDRs will learn about similarities and differences in how they operate in three different countries, and why one of them--the Domestic Homicide Review in the United Kingdom--is identified as the model worth replicating in Canada and the United States.

Desmond Ellis is a member of the Sociology graduate faculty and a Professor Emeritus based in the La Marsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, Faculty of Health, York University. He served his country by his service in the Royal Artillery in England, and his community by serving as a Board member of the women’s safety promoting Elspeth Heyworth Centre in Toronto, and the Conflict Mediation Service, Downsview. He was also a member of the Domestic Violence Sub-committee to the Federal U.S., Uniform Collaborative Law Act Task Force. During his tenure at York, he was appointed by Justice Canada to the Family Violence Advisory Group set up to implement national family violence user guidelines for family violence practitioners to identify and respond to family violence. With colleague Mike Smith, he created the La Marsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution. As a faculty member at York, he published a number of research reports, books and articles on male partner violence associated with separation, and the effects of participating is collaborative and adversarial family court proceeding on male partner violence. His most recent book, Domestic Violence: A Practical Handbook for Family Lawyers, was published by Lexis-Nexis in 2019.