Police deter domestic violence reoffending through criminal profiling

NSW Police are going inside the minds of those most likely to commit acts of domestic violence again, revealing the factors behind red-flagging of possible reoffenders.

Police have been quietly profiling domestic violence offenders and targeting those more likely to do it again with a 56 per cent increase in prosecutions for breaching Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

The behind-the-scenes analysis is also one of the reasons for the 145 per cent increase in ADVO compliance checks – a total of 80,791 – between 2018 and 2020.

As NSW becomes the first jurisdiction in Australia to trial electronic monitoring on repeat domestic violence offenders, State Intelligence Commander, Assistant Commissioner Tony Crandell, said there had been “significant successes in deterring reoffending”.

The profiling, which includes a variety of factors including criminal records and what an offender says during a police interview, is an extension of the Suspect Targeting Management Plan which was rolled out in November 2020 to reduce crime among high risk offenders.

Assistant Commissioner Crandell said Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures showed there had been a 41% “deterrence effect” in the likelihood of domestic violence offences among those people placed on STMP.

Assistant Commissioner Tony Crandell says profiling has been successful in deterring would-be reoffenders. Picture: Tim Hunter

“The NSW Police Force has also conducted research on when breaches of ADVOs are more likely, which allows more targeted approaches to higher risk individuals and families identified as more susceptible to domestic and family violence,” he said.

The profiling includes red-flagging offenders who blame everything on their former partner.

“So many men coming before the courts where there has been a breakdown in a relationship do not have the capacity to understand what a relationship is so they see themselves as being entitled and ignore an ADVO,” victims’ advocate Howard Brown said.

He has called for all offenders who breach ADVOs to be refused bail until the court can get a psychological report.

“Magistrates will often release someone with the best of intentions because they don’t have the resources to profile everyone,” he said.

“If someone wears a suit and tie and speaks well, it does not mean he is less likely to reoffend than some with tattoos.”

Last year, 726 or over 12 per cent of offenders who breached the orders went to jail, according to BOCSAR.

Between June 2016 and June 2021, there was an increase of 32 per cent to 38,669 in the number of ADVOs granted and in the year to June 2021, 12.608 defendants were put before the courts for breaching an ADVO on a total of 19,023 charges.

Domestic violence experts said tragedies like the murder of young Newcastle mother Mackenzie Anderson should not deter women from reporting violence or breaches of domestic violence orders.

Young Newcastle mum Mackenzie Anderson was allegedly stabbed to death by her former partner, Tyrone Thompson. Picture: Instagram

Most ADVOs work, Hayley Foster, chief executive of FullStopAustralia said.

“But they need to form part of a suite of measures supporting victim-survivors in their safety,” she said.

“We have definitely seen police pick up their game with taking out ADVOs and prosecuting breaches. But the reality is, the response is still patchy and it really does depend upon which police officer is in charge when the incident is reported.”

Tanya Whitehouse, manager of one of the state’s busiest domestic court advocacy services in the Macarthur area of Sydney, said it was important that women felt empowered to report domestic violence.

“Reporting a breach of an ADVO is positive. There are consequences. Getting an ADVO is positive. There are consequences,” Ms Whitehouse said.

“This is how we keep people safe.”

Ms Anderson’s former partner Tyrone Thompson, 22, has been charged with her murder. He had been released on bail two weeks earlier for allegedly assaulting his father the day after he was released from prison for serious domestic violence offences against Ms Anderson.