Femicide Census update

[EmbarrassingHadrosaurus]

Femicide Census: there’s a disturbing reason for the falling number of murders

Karen Ingala Smith and Clarrie O'Callaghan

A woman can be killed when she tries to leave her violent partner, which happened less often during the Covid lockdowns

www.theguardian.com/society/2022/feb/27/femicide-census-theres-a-disturbing-reason-for-the-falling-number-of-murders

It's grim but essential to read such analysis.

I'm adding in the equally grim: Suicide by Domestic Violence

The extent of domestic abuse (DA) related suicide, and hidden homicides that include, for instance, “accidents” and femicides that pass as suicides, is only now beginning to emerge because of the work of campaigners such as the charity Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA). Clarrie O’Callaghan and Karen Ingala Smith, co-founders of the annual Femicide Census, with whom the Observer has been working on its End Femicide series, advocate that better data is vital. Now a new campaign called #notjustanother (…mother, sister, daughter, friend…) has been launched, founded by criminologist Professor Jane Monckton-Smith. In the run-up to the anniversary of Sarah Everard’s killing on 3 March, MPs will receive a letter signed by more than 330 organisations, charities, individuals and bereaved families. Among its demands is a call for police to treat all sudden, unexpected deaths of those known to be victims of domestic abuse as potential femicide from the outset, securing the scene. A Home Office report, published in 2015 looked at 32 unexpected deaths that the police had decided were not suspicious and were subsequently re-examined by forensic pathologists. Ten transpired to be killings and a further five were suspicious and required further investigation – almost 50%.

www.theguardian.com/society/2022/feb/27/suicide-by-domestic-violence-call-to-count-the-hidden-toll-of-womens-lives

Thank you for posting these articles. They make heartbreaking reading.

In the second piece, the carelessness and lack of professional curiosity displayed by those who are supposed to protect victims and prosecute perpetrators disgusts me: "A Home Office report, published in 20155^ looked at 32 unexpected deaths that the police had decided were not suspicious and were subsequently re-examined by forensic pathologists. Ten transpired to be killings and a further five were suspicious and required further investigation – almost 50%" and yet here we are, with nothing changed.

I learned of Professor Monckton Smith's work a couple of years ago. It's changed the way I look at the world, and although I find it distressing and disturbing I believe it's better to be aware of the reality of how men's psychological and physical violence affects women.

It's changed the way I look at the world, and although I find it distressing and disturbing I believe it's better to be aware of the reality of how men's psychological and physical violence affects women.

We have to be able to change the policy on how women and children are treated. We need more people who are aware of the issues acting in Family Courts. We need better provision and enforcement of the violent adult being the one to leave the family home and issued with a restraint order that has teeth.

And yes—the disdain with which unexpected deaths is treated is an scarcely concealed expression of contempt for women's lives.

it's better to be aware of the reality of how men's psychological and physical violence affects women.

Yes. It is upsetting to read this stuff, but we need clear figures and information. It's the only way we can start to get a picture of what the issues are and how they may begin to be tackled.

'providing real and tangible pathways to safety for women leaving violent men is critical if the government is serious about protecting women from the most extreme outcomes of men’s violence. All too often the law seriously and fatally fails women who need to leave. Injunctions need robust enforcement for breach including the use of tags to monitor men so that women can stay in their homes; violence and abuse needs to result in appropriate sanctions so that men’s violence and attempts to coercively control never go unpunished; refuges need increased and sustainable funding so there is always space to go if women and their families have to leave; and the family court system needs to address men’s use and abuse of the system by enabling control through child contact and finances.'