Community's attitudes towards intimate partner homicide

The thesis aimed to explore the Victorian Community's attitudes towards intimate partner homicide committed in the context of jealousy and domestic violence. Results revealed that the immediacy of the accused's actions, the gender of the accused, and the gender of the participant interacted to influence participants' verdict and blame responses. The portfolio explored the complexities and challenges that face mental health professionals in deciding the appropriate weighting of child's wishes in child protection assessments. The four case studies presented were chosen due to the attention that was paid to the child's wishes throughout the assessments.

Provocation in New South Wales : the need for abolition

Over the past two decades significant debate has emerged surrounding the operation of the partial defence of provocation. Such debates have led to its abolition in several Australian and international jurisdictions where Government and Law Commission bodies have argued that provocation has operated in a gender biased way that is no longer reflective of community values and expectations of justice. In contrast to the Australian states of Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, who have transferred consideration of provocation to sentencing, New South Wales (NSW) has retained provocation as a partial defence to murder. Drawing upon in-depth interviews conducted with legal stakeholders and an analysis of recent case law, this article considers whether the operation of provocation in NSW is still in the best interests of justice, and, specifically, whether in practice it privileges one gender above the other. This research concludes that the continued operation of provocation in NSW raises key issues surrounding the legitimisation of male violence against women, the denial and minimisation of the harm caused by lethal domestic violence, and the continued inability of the law to appropriately respond to women who kill in the context of prolonged family violence.

Murder or manslaughter? NSW ponders the provocation problem

In Parliament last week, NSW took steps towards better understanding, and potentially solving, the problems posed by the partial defence of provocation. This comment analyses key arguments presented to the Parliamentary Select Committee for the retention and abolition of the partial defence of provocation.

Legal loophole protecting violent men : why the defence of provocation needs to change

This comment analyses the successful use of the provocation defence in New South Wales in cases of male perpetrated intimate homicide. In doing so, it makes an argument for why the defence should be abolished.

The Role of TAFE as an Equity Pathway to Social Inclusion, Employment, and to University : a submission from The Deakin University Social Work/Gordon TAFE Community Services Work, Geelong Based Project Team

Executive Summary

The Deakin University Social Work/Gordon TAFE Community Services Work Geelong Based Project Team (the Project Team) was assisted by Higher Education Partnership and Participation funding made available through Deakin University Participation and Partnerships Program (DUPPP) to carry out research and project work in 2012/13.

In the following submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into the role of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) system and its operation, this Project Team seeks to establish a case for:

1. Funding to enable TAFE to continue as:

a) an equity pathway to social inclusion, employment, and to university, particularly in regional areas.
b) an integral complement to the University education sector to deliver on the ambitious objectives of the Federal Government’s widening participation agenda, as a mechanism to deliver the skills, knowledge and workforce needed now, and in the future, in the Australian economy.
2. Increased resources for separate and joint sector development
a) Publicly funded TAFEs need funding to be restored and increased to enable them to maintain the high quality education they provide and to maintain their successful work in supporting communities, regions and disadvantaged individuals to gain skills, training and employment.
b) Universities need increased funding to increase staffing levels and therefore free up teaching staff to spend the necessary time to develop relationships with and provide support to students. This is important for the achieving the goals of the widening participation agenda of increasing access without increasing attrition at the same time.
c) TAFEs and Universities need funding to do the work required to further develop and formalise diploma-degree pathways so that disadvantaged individuals can exit into employment at the diploma level or be supported in an efficient and seamless way to undertake further study.
3. Active use of localised and nuanced partnership approaches by education institutions. This includes:
• Cross teaching by TAFEs and Universities in courses that can be articulated, such as professional practice diplomas and degrees
• Programs negotiated and designed according to the needs of students in each location. TAFEs and Universities need resources in order to do this work
• Focus on regional centres where there is a particular opportunity for government to make an impact on TAFE pathways to employment and/or further education
• Workforce development in regional areas due to new industries is a particular area of need
4. Recognise and capitalise on the complementary and symbiotic nature of each sector’s skills, strengths and capacities.
The submission responds to the second, third and fifth points of the Terms of Reference of the Inquiry and is based on the research work carried out by the Project Team in 2012/13.

We provide evidence of Gordon TAFE in Geelong working as an equity mechanism in the particular case of the welfare/ community services diploma to social work degree pathway. The project team considers that there is a strong case for additional resourcing of TAFE to enable it to continue what it does well. TAFE is the key training and education sectorthe ‘education and social hub’that can successfully attract, retain, and graduate people who may not otherwise access education due to one or more combinations of:

1. having a low SES current or past background;
2. living in regional areas;
3. receiving interrupted primary and secondary education;
4. having disabilities;
5. being sole parents;
6. being from refugee backgrounds;
7. having English as an additional language/culture;
8. retrenchment from employment in dying industries;
9. short, medium and long term unemployment;
10. past and/or current caring roles;
11. marriage/relationship breakdowns;
12. domestic violence;
13. gender, class, age, race/ethnicity and dis/ability discriminations; and
14. socialised expectations and fears.

The recommendations in this submission are based on research findings about important similarities and differences between Gordon TAFE welfare and Deakin University social work students in Geelong, and their respective institutional organisations and contexts. The two institutions employ a repertoire of diverse administrative, teaching, learning and support approaches to meet different mission goals, requirements and needs.

Filicide and parental separation and divorce

This paper discusses the findings of a ten-year study of filicide in Victoria, Australia, using the data from selected case files held in the Victorian coroner's office for the period 2000–09. The study sought to examine whether separation is a factor in filicide cases, as well as the role of other factors, such as domestic violence and mental illness. Also, the study sought to identify whether filicide perpetrators had contact with support services, including family and friends, general practitioners, mental health services and child protection services, in order to ascertain how these services might more appropriately identify those families most at risk prior to the filicide. The study found that while separation was a factor identified in a significant number of cases, more cases analysed showed evidence of mental illness, mainly depression. These findings suggest the need for improved strategies in preventing filicide by identifying risk factors and improving service responses for victims prior to these tragic events.

Out of Character? Legal responses to intimate partner homicides by men in Victoria 2005-2014

This report reviews 51 cases of intimate partner homicide by men in Victoria, from 2005-2014, to investigate how family violence is recognised in homicide prosecutions. Research and death reviews in Australia and overseas have found that systemic failures in legal responses to family violence contribute to intimate partner homicides. In 2010, Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria and Monash University began a project to explore the impact of the 2005 homicide law reforms on intimate partner homicides. The first phase of the project examined cases of women who killed their intimate partners, focusing on whether the reforms had improved the recognition of family violence victimisation as a factor. This report presents findings from the second phase, which examines legal responses to men who have killed in the context of sexual intimacy. In analysing the cases, it looks at key contextual factors, legal outcomes, family violence risk factors, how prior family violence is understood and discussed by legal professionals, how evidence of prior family violence is used by the prosecution and whether it is admitted as evidence, the types of arguments and narratives made in defence of the accused, the recognition of family violence through the sentencing process, and the use of provocation as a mitigating factor.

Family violence in domestic homicides: a case study of women who killed intimate partners post-legislative reform in Victoria, Australia

This article examines the impact of legislative reforms enacted in 2005 in Victoria, Australia, on legal responses to women charged with murder for killing their intimate partner. The reforms provided for a broader understanding of the context of family violence to be considered in such cases, but we found little evidence of this in practice. This is partly attributable to persistent misconceptions among the legal profession about family violence and why women may believe it necessary to kill a partner. We recommend specialized training for legal professionals and increased use of family violence evidence to help ensure women's claims of self-defense receive appropriate responses from Victorian courts.

Engaging men in men's violence prevention : exploring the tensions, dilemmas and possibilities

The aim of this discussion paper is to raise some questions and to encourage debate about the impact on gender equality of increasing men's involvement in campaigns to end men's violence against women. To address this issue, I have conducted a critical review of the literature on working with men as partners in violence prevention projects. I have also located this literature within theoretical debates about men's privilege, men's interests and men's resistance to change.

Criminalising controlling and coercive behaviour: the next step in the prosecution of family violence?

A new offence of controlling or coercive behaviour in intimate or family relationships has recently come into force in England. The parliament of Scotland is contemplating introducing a related offence. The offence is distinctive because it criminalises conduct – controlling and coercive behaviour – which has specified negative behavioural and psychological consequences without necessarily requiring that a victim sustain physical injury or fear death or serious harm. This significant extension of the criminal law supplements anti-stalking legislation and has been justified on the basis that it addresses a core feature of abusive relationships, is essential to protect the human rights of victims of domestic abuse, and has community support. In the context of the ongoing debate about how best to tackle the problem of domestic abuse in Australia, this development provides an innovative – albeit still untested – model and should be closely examined.