The truth about men and murder

A ground-breaking new report on murder in Australia has provided overwhelming proof of the gendered nature of domestic and family violence.

The report shows that men commit more than 80 per cent of murders between couples who have a history of domestic violence. The overwhelming majority of those men had a history of abusing the women they ultimately killed.

In the 20 per cent of murders committed by women, over two-thirds were women killing men who had been abusing them. Of the 152 murders examined by the report only two cases were found where a woman killed a man she had a history of abusing.

Fiona McCormack, CEO of Domestic Violence Victoria, says it is vital to recognise how gender is a factor in family violence.

“The fact that family violence is primarily perpetrated by men and overwhelmingly experienced by women and children can be a deeply uncomfortable truth, but unless we have the courage as a community to look at why it is that some men choose to perpetrate violence, we’ll never be able to fix this,’’ she said.

Until now, the Personal Safety Survey has been the primary data on violence in Australia. It is a detailed data set, but it relies on people’s memories and perceptions of the violence they have experienced and what they are willing or able to share with people conducting the survey.

These responses are extrapolated on robust statistical principles and provide a very good indication of how Australians experience violence, but it is not verifiable fact.

The report released last week by the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network is not based on statistics. It’s a detailed examination of 152 intimate partner murders between 2010 and 2014 where there was credible information showing a history of violence prior to the murder.

Information was collected from the Coroner’s Courts, police investigations, court proceedings and inquest findings. The results prove that domestic violence, in its most dangerous form, is overwhelmingly committed by men against women.

More than one-third of the murders committed by men occurred after the relationship had ended and nearly a quarter of the women killed had Domestic Violence Orders against their killer at the time of the murder.

At least 107 children lost a parent to murder, and alcohol was involved in around half of all the killings.

This is the first report from the Death Review Network. As its work continues it will expand the data to include intimate-partner murders where there was no previous history of violence as well as murders between other types of family relationships.

Experts believe this will expand understanding of domestic violence homicides and how gender impacts lives lost to family violence.

Australia has about one murder per 100,000 people each year. This is compared to America, at around five per 100,000 and South Africa, at 34 per 100,000.

Why is she wasting the courts time and money?

Probably just a drunk Abo

It is always very concerning when a victim does not attend court as it may jeopardise their safety," she said.

"This can mean perpetrators can continue to carry out the abuse without being held accountable or engaging in programs and interventions to change their behaviour