Implementation of a Web-Based Outpatient Asynchronous Consultation Service : Mixed Methods Study

Publisher Copyright: ©Magdalena Rzewuska Díaz, Louise Locock, Andrew Keen, Mike Melvin, Anthony Myhill, Craig Ramsay.Peer reviewe

Reasons rape investigations are closed by police

Briefing 3 of Pillar Five for Operation Soteria Bluestone. This briefing shares the results of research investigating why police in England and Wales close rape cases. It is part of the large-scale, UK Government funded Operation Soteria Bluestone which aims to improve police investigations of rape and other sexual offences. It is part of the large-scale, UK Government funded Operation Soteria Bluestone which aims to improve police investigations of rape and other sexual offences

Recording, reporting, and charge rates for rape in England and Wales

Briefing 2 of Pillar Five for Operation Soteria Bluestone. This briefing shares the results of research investigating the real scale and nature of rape reporting to and recording by the police, as well as the charge rate, in England and Wales. It is part of the large-scale, UK Government funded Operation Soteria Bluestone which aims to improve police investigations of rape and other sexual offences

Police use of discretion in response to domestic violence

This article addresses the issue of police officers’ use of discretion when responding to domestic violence. With reference to Ericson and Haggerty’s theory of risk-oriented policing, we collected data direct from information management systems in an English police force and conducted field observations with attending officers to explore the degree to which officers used discretion to interpret the national definition of domestic violence. We also considered how officers applied national standards for recording incidents and crimes. We found that considerable discretion was required to interpret the official definition of domestic violence, and that decision making in relation to recording or otherwise incidents and crimes of domestic violence was variable. Specifically, we found examples of domestic-related incidents not recorded as such, and examples of crimes either not or incorrectly recorded. The implications of these findings for policy and practice are discussed

Counting with understanding? What is at stake in debates on researching domestic violence

This paper addresses recent debates relating to the measurement of domestic violence, and in particular the ‘domestic violent crime’ framework proposed by Sylvia Walby and colleagues. We argue for the utility of coercive control as a framework for measurement of domestic violence, and highlight what we see as misrepresentation of this concept in the work of Walby and colleagues. We also point to the limitations of traditional crime codes in capturing the range of abuse suffered by victims of coercive control, and question whether measuring physical assault is any more straightforward in sample surveys than measuring non-violent forms of coercion. We conclude by calling for greater attention to qualitative narratives and practice-based knowledge to ensure that measurement frameworks reflect the lived experiences of victim-survivors

Coercive control: Patterns in crimes, arrests and outcomes for a new domestic abuse offence

Critics of the criminalization of coercive control warned that the criminal justice system was ill-prepared for a conceptualization of domestic abuse that relies on victim accounts of fear and manipulation rather than on evidence of violence. Using data obtained through Freedom of Information requests to police forces and aggregated police records, this paper presents police force-level and nationwide patterns in recorded crimes, police arrests and crime outcomes for this new crime and shows that, nationally, the number of recorded crimes and arrests rose steadily in its first three years, but there was significant variation in these patterns between police forces. Analysing police outcomes, we demonstrate that coercive control crimes face greater procedural challenges and are far less likely to result in prosecution than domestic abuse crimes in general. We discuss the implications of these trends and findings for the policing and criminalization of coercive control

Whose harm is it anyway? Using police data to represent domestic abuse victims’ experiences

There is a strong tradition of qualitative research documenting the experiences of survivors of domestic abuse. The in-depth nature of this data and the context in which it is collected contrasts with data collected by police officers largely for the purposes of recording and investigating crime. We argue that crime codes are an incomplete representation of ‘harm’ and escalation in domestic abuse. We also suggest harm indexes and severity scores that combine crime codes and sentencing data are an inadequate and potentially misleading representation of victim-survivors’ lived experiences and wider harms suffered. We caution against the use of harm index data to prioritize intervention in cases of domestic abuse and to assess police performance and the impact of interventions. We argue for a wider range of available data to be utilized in the measurement of harm and for measurement frameworks to be informed by foundational qualitative research in this field

Practitioner (mis)understandings of coercive control in England and Wales

Coercive control is harmful behaviour recently criminalized in England and Wales. The extent to which the work of practitioners is informed by an understanding of coercive control therefore requires investigation. Using data from two mixed methods multi-site studies, this article suggests that practitioners’ recognition of coercive control does not seem to be universally poor or skilled, but rather depends on the characteristics of the situation itself, the organizational context in which practitioners work and the stage at which they are evaluating whether coercive control is present. The absence of a clear understanding of the importance of coercive control when making judgements about victims and perpetrators has serious implications for the efficacy of current approaches to domestic abuse. Purposeful and systematic efforts to support practitioners to recognize and respond effectively to coercive control are required